Can West Bengal transform decades of industrial drift into an electronics revival? The first budget after the regime change, packed with incentives, semiconductors and infrastructure, raises hopes and some difficult questions.
For nearly two decades, West Bengal has occupied an unusual place in India’s technology landscape. It helped lay the foundations of the country’s electronics industry through the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (WEBEL) and the Salt Lake Electronics Complex, which later emerged as a thriving software destination with Sector V and New Town.
However, it watched large-scale electronics manufacturing migrate elsewhere.
As states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and, more recently, Odisha and Assam competed for semiconductor, electronics, and EV investments, Bengal’s industrial narrative increasingly revolved around services rather than factories.
The first full Budget of the newly elected BJP government seeks to change that.
Presented by West Bengal’s newly appointed Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta on 22 June 2026, the ₹4.38 trillion Budget is framed around the vision of ‘Viksit Bengal as part of Viksit Bharat.’ While its largest allocations continue to prioritise welfare and social development, it also signals a deliberate attempt to reposition West Bengal as a destination for advanced manufacturing, electronics and deep technology.
The government’s biggest spending priorities, however, remain social. The Women & Child Development and Social Welfare Department received ₹523.085 billion, followed by ₹518.3655 billion for the Panchayats and Rural Development Department and ₹449.4821 billion for School Education.
On the other hand, the revamped Annapurna Yojana alone has been allocated ₹360 billion, while the Budget also promises a 20 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) increase for state employees, enhanced remuneration for ASHA and Anganwadi workers, recruitment of 100,000 government employees, 50,000 teachers, and 20,000 police personnel, besides investments in airports, roads and public transport.
Yet beneath these welfare commitments lies a notable industrial shift.
A new electronics playbook
At the heart of the electronics push is a proposed ₹50 billion industrial incentive package aimed at priority sectors including electronics, semiconductor-related manufacturing, hardware components, electric mobility and other frontier technologies.
According to the government’s proposals, companies investing more than ₹1 billion could benefit from streamlined approvals through a single-window mechanism, while the state also intends to revisit land regulations to unlock larger contiguous parcels for manufacturing projects; one of the long-standing hurdles that has constrained industrial expansion.
Among the most closely watched proposals is the plan to develop Durgapur, an industrial town and part of the Paschim Burdwan district, as a semiconductor and advanced manufacturing hub.
The project is expected to align with national initiatives such as the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and the National Industrial Corridor programme, potentially allowing investors to leverage both state incentives and central support.
Durgapur’s existing industrial ecosystem, reliable power infrastructure and strategic freight connectivity make it a logical choice for attracting semiconductor assembly, testing and packaging activities before progressing towards more advanced manufacturing.
The electronics ecosystem envisioned in the Budget extends beyond semiconductors. The government has proposed integrating MSMEs and startups with new industrial corridors, expanding EV infrastructure, rolling out 4000 electric buses, implementing the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana across the state with 200,000 rooftop solar installations, allocating ₹1 billion for rooftop solar infrastructure, providing an additional ₹5000 subsidy for SC/ST households adopting solar energy, and strengthening STEM education through improved technical infrastructure and hostels aimed at increasing female participation in engineering disciplines.
Learning from history
In many ways, the Budget represents the latest phase in West Bengal’s evolving technology journey.
The state’s electronics ambitions date back to the establishment of WEBEL in 1974 and the creation of the Salt Lake Electronics Complex (SALTLEC) in the late 1980s, envisioned as India’s first integrated electronics manufacturing park. However, as India’s IT revolution accelerated, the focus shifted from hardware to software.
The shift is also reflected in public spending. After 2011, the Trinamool Congress significantly increased allocations for the Information Technology and Electronics Department, spending about ₹2.99 billion during its first four years, compared with ₹163.9 million in the Left Front’s final four years.
The government also reported attracting more than ₹140 billion in investments into the IT and electronics sector between 2011 and 2020, while expanding the state’s IT workforce to over 250,000. Much of this investment, however, strengthened software services, digital infrastructure and data centres rather than large-scale electronics manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Sector V in Salt Lake became one of India’s leading IT hubs, and the Bengal Silicon Valley Hub in New Town attracted software companies, cloud infrastructure providers, and data centres. This strategy generated employment and investments, but electronics manufacturing itself remained comparatively limited.
Land became another decisive factor. The political fallout from Singur and Nandigram in 2006-07 made large-scale industrial land acquisition increasingly difficult, limiting opportunities for hardware industries that require extensive manufacturing campuses.
The present Budget’s proposal to revisit aspects of the urban land framework appears to acknowledge this historical constraint, signalling an attempt to make large manufacturing investments more feasible.
The timing is equally significant. India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem has changed dramatically over the past five years. Production-linked incentive schemes, the ISM, supply chain diversification, and rising geopolitical interest in trusted manufacturing destinations have created opportunities that did not exist when Bengal last attempted a major industrial transformation.
Rather than competing solely in software and IT services, the state now appears to be positioning itself within a national strategy that prioritises semiconductors, electronics, renewable energy and electric mobility.
Growth without compromise?
However, manufacturing at this scale also raises questions beyond investment.
Semiconductor fabrication is among the world’s most water-intensive industrial activities, relying on vast quantities of ultra-pure water while generating wastewater that requires sophisticated treatment. In a state defined by the Ganga delta, the Damodar basin and the ecologically fragile Sundarbans, industrial growth must coexist with environmental resilience.
The Budget acknowledges this challenge through ₹12 billion for the Ghatal Master Plan, ₹500 million for riverbank stabilisation in Jangipur, ₹10 billion for rebuilding climate-resilient embankments in the Sundarbans, ₹1 billion for communications and green infrastructure in the region, and continued support for river management and flood-control initiatives.
While these allocations are not directly linked to electronics manufacturing, they underscore the reality that Bengal’s industrial future cannot be separated from its environmental context.
Budgets can signal intent, but industries are built through execution. West Bengal has outlined an ambitious roadmap to regain relevance in electronics and advanced manufacturing, backed by incentives, infrastructure and policy reforms.
Whether these measures can translate into factories, resilient supply chains and sustained investment, and help the state match the momentum of India’s emerging manufacturing hubs, will determine if Budget 2026 becomes a milestone or simply another chapter in Bengal’s long industrial journey.
