# Bengal has become a city of pensioners, says FM Swapan Dasgupta 2026-08-24T05:22:50+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said the state faces a massive skill shortage after five decades of uninterrupted economic decline, leaving Kolkata a 'city of old age pensioners'. In an exclusive conversation with Business Today at its India@100 event, Dasgupta noted that young people have left in large numbers for Bangalore, Gurugram, Noida and overseas. Dasgupta traced Bengal's decline to labour militancy from the 1960s and the Tata Group's exit from Singur. He said the message sent to the business world was that if the Tatas could not operate in Bengal, no one could. The BJP formed its first government in May this year, ending Mamata Banerjee's 15-year rule, and Dasgupta took charge of the finance portfolio. The finance minister acknowledged the state cannot recreate its historical past, when Murshidabad was a global silk centre accounting for 20% of world GDP. He instead outlined a revival plan focused on manufacturing, services and deep tech. Asked about expectations of a rapid turnaround, Dasgupta said: 'You have to, you can't get miracles.' ## Indian Opinion Analysis West Bengal has the third-largest economy among Indian states, but its per capita income has lagged behind the national average for over a decade. The state's share of national gross domestic product (GDP) fell from about 10% in 1960 to roughly 6% today. The key challenge for the BJP government is reversing out-migration of skilled workers, an estimated 1.5 lakh Bengalis leave the state each year for jobs elsewhere. The next test of sentiment will come when Dasgupta presents his first full budget in February 2026, where allocations for industry and skilling will signal whether the rhetoric translates into policy. ## Coverage - businesstoday.in Leads with Dasgupta's stark quote, relies entirely on his account of decline, no counter-view or data verification included. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: BJP, Kolkata, Singur, Swapan Dasgupta, Tata group, West Bengal Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/bengal-has-become-a-city-of-pensioners-says-fm-swapan-dasgupta/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/bengal-has-become-a-city-of-pensioners-says-fm-swapan-dasgupta/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/