WBFIN-Finance Department West Bengal
WBFIN i.e. West Bengal Finance Department is the mother department of the Govt. of West Bengal and is responsible for managing all the financial activities of the state.
The Finance Department West Bengal, directly and indirectly, controls and supervises all the other departments in association with the state of West Bengal.
So, in modern terms, it is called a Corporate House which controls, implements, monitors and supervises the financial activities of other associated departments on behalf of the Govt. of West Bengal. That is why it is standing at the top of the departmental Hierarchy.
The prima facie motto of this department is to arranging of funds, mobilisation and appropriate utilisation for various needs such as infrastructural development work, social welfare, human resource development and administrative purposes solely meant for its main stakeholder i.e. the “General Public”.
West Bengal Finance Department enjoys the exclusive power of control over various matters incorporating all the economic and financial affairs of the State.
This platform indeed functions like one umbrella for all the needs of the Government of West Bengal at one place under one big umbrella.
The main objectives of this restructuring were to gain more efficiency over its fund management system for having better administrative and budgetary control over the receipts and expenditures of the Government of West Bengal.
Finance Department of West Bengal is basically a combination of three main departments such as:
- Audit Branch;
- Budget Branch;
- Revenue Branch;
1. Audit Branch of Finance Department West Bengal
The Audit branch of the Finance Department of West Bengal acts as the main controlling unit for all the branches under the Finance Department.
The main function of this branch is to make an analysis of different proposals with financial implications and helps in implementing different policies on behalf of the respective departments.
This indicates that the Audit branch is solely responsible for any major financial decisions of the Govt. of West Bengal in terms of policy framing and implementation thereof. So, it acts a the financial regulator for various Govt. expenditures.
Further, this Branch acts as the nodal unit for various matters involving the State Public Service Commission, West Bengal Administrative Tribunal and State Pay Commission and also in respect of the State Finance Commission.
2. Budget Branch of Finance Department West Bengal
As the name itself suggests that the main function of the Budget Branch is to make an estimation of public expenditure and preparation of Annual Financial Budget accordingly.
So, preparation of Civil budget and Annual Financial Statement is taken care of by the Budget Branch. Not only this, but this branch is also responsible for managing and preparing the annual and five years plan for the state and taking adequate measures for successful implementation of the visioned expenditure in an adequate and timely manner.
- Statistical Department under Budget Deptt.: This is needless to say that the importance of this department is increasing day by day with the implementation of various central projects and performing various tasks in sync with the objectives of the central agencies such as RBI, Planning Commission etc, to collect & compile all Central Finance Commission-related data on a yearly basis
- PPP Cell under Budget Deptt.: For implementing various infrastructural development works, the Govt. of West Bengal has collaborated with the private agencies to form a Public Private Partnership(PPP). This PPP cell was formed under the Budget Branch to materialise these Govt. PPP projects.
3. Revenue Branch of West Bengal Finance Department
The Revenue Branch of the Finance Department of West Bengal is solely responsible for the collection of Tax revenue and other non-tax revenue.
The main motto of this branch is to increase the Tax collection and proper implementation of rules and regulations in relation to the collection of sales tax, stamp duty, electricity duty and other financial matters.
What are the Main Functions of West Bengal Finance Department?
Being on the top of the hierarchy, department wise, the West Bengal Finance Department has to take many responsibilities while managing the financial affairs of the Govt. of West Bengal.
The main functions and responsibilities of the Finance Department of West Bengal are given below as stated on their website:
- Good Governance: Through the Finance Department of West Bengal, the State Govt. stands in a position to monitor the total financial health of the state and can act prudentially for the public interests. This is a part of Good Governance;
- Granting of Loans: WB FIN is the in charge of the accounts relating to loans granted by the State Government and the previous Government and advises on the financial aspects of all transactions relating to such loans;
- Taxation Policy: It examines, analyses and reports on all proposals for the increase or reduction of taxation accordingly;
- Borrowings: WB FIN examines and reports on all proposals for borrowing on the security of the Consolidated Fund of the State or for giving guarantees, takes all steps necessary for the purpose of raising such loans as have been duly authorized;
- Guarantee Discharge: Further, the Finance Department of West Bengal acts as the in charge of all matters relating to the service of loans or the discharge of guarantees;
- Rules Framing: It takes the responsibility for ensuring proper financial rules are framed for the guidance of other Departments and that suitable accounts are maintained by other Departments and establishments;
- Balance Checking: WB Fin Department is responsible for keeping an eye on the state Government’s balances on a regular basis;
- Statement of Revenue & Expenditure: It prepares a statement of estimated revenue and expenditure to be laid before the Legislature in each year and any supplementary statements of expenditure;
- Approval of New Scheme: It examines and advises on all schemes of new expenditure for which it is proposed to make provision in the estimates and declines to provide in the estimates for any scheme which has not been so examined;
- Appropriation of Bills: WBFIN is responsible for the preparation of Appropriation Bills to be introduced to the Legislature as and when required;
- Co-ordination with the Audit Department: If any expenditure has been incurred without prior approval of the appropriate authority, the Finance Department either take measures for such approval or may cease the unauthorised expenditure on receiving a report from the Audit dept;
- Report to CAG: It prepares the report as sought by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for income and expenditure of the State before placing to the Public Accounts Committee and alike matters;
- Revenue Collection Monitoring: It directs the respective Departments responsible for the collection of revenue regarding the progress of collections and the methods of collection employed and an increase in revenue collection;
- General Direction: The Finance Department may give general or special order prescribing cases in which its assent may be presumed to have been given.
Services Provided by the WBFIN/West Bengal Finance Department
The Finance Department West Bengal is responsible for looking, after all, the finance-related matters of the State of West Bengal. This includes from payment of salary and wages to the employees and contractual staffs, framing and implementation of policies of the Govt., incurring expenditure for various Govt. approved projects and schemes and many more.
Further, it is seen that the Govt. of West Bengal has taken many initiatives for full computerisation of all its finance-related functions such as the complete report of the utilisation of its funds for any project or scheme, total revenue collection, budgetary allocation and utilisation.
This initiative was much needed as this can quickly identify any ongoing project where any department could not utilise the funds, disbursed for the interests of the public.
In a kind, the Govt. through its Finance Department can directly monitor its overall progress which is a crucial part of the good governance of the Government.
The services offered by the Finance Department West Bengal are summarised below:
1. KCCIMS under Finance Department Govt of West Bengal
KCCIMS stands for Kisan Credit Card Issuance Monitoring System. Under this service the respective department can monitor the number of Kisan Credit Card issued for a specified period.
To know more about Kisan Credit Card System, you can check the link below.
2. WBIFMS under Finance Department Govt of West Bengal
WBIFMS stands for the West Bengal Integrated Financial Management System. This service is like a fairy tale for the employees of the Govt. of West Bengal. As, this service is like many functions under one umbrella.
This WBIFMS platform is quite unique and is of the international standards at any given point of time. This service is specially designed for the employees only where they can find many employee centric information at a glance.
To know more about WBIFMS, you can check the link below.
3. OCCRF under Finance Department Govt of West Bengal
OCCRF stands for Online Credit Confirmation cum Release of Funds. To eradicate the substantial time taken for manual processing of the file regarding Credit Confirmation cum Release of Funds i.r.o different Central aided schemes and State aided schemes, the Finance Department of West Bengal introduced this online platform for readily accessing such information through online mode.
The main motto for introduction of this platform was to eradicatethe delay in utilization of fund or grants as received from the Central Govt. for various development and social welfare projects of the State from time to time.
4. RIDF under Finance Department Govt of West Bengal
RIDF stands for the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. The NABARD in association with Central Govt. extends funds for the Rural Development in form of loans to all the states as per their requirements.
On receiving such loans from NABARD, the State Govt. incur this expenditure for the rural infrastructurual projects. Therefore, this service is very crucial in terms of timely project completion and utilisation of funds as most of the projects are funded by loans from NABARD.
So, the Govt. has to bear the interest cost every year for taking such loans for rural development works. So, monitoring of such ongoing projects and fund utilisation is very important from Govt. perspective.
Therefore, using this RIDF service the respective departmewnts can monitor all the acartivities involving RIDF.
5. PFRIS under Finance Department Govt of West Bengal
PFRIS stands for Plan Fund Release Information System. Service provided under this platform gets very much importance as this depicts actual picture of Govt. expenditure for planned projects.
Every year 1st April, after logging into this portal one can view the State’s Department wise budgetary allocations for the particular year. So that every department can release plan wise funds as per budgetary allocation.
Truly speaking, this Plan Fund Release depicts one’s performance in terms of utilising public money to the best of the efforts as planned by the Govt. for the benefits of the mass.
A Department intending to Release budgetary allocations under Plan Heads has to login to this platform for accessing the data.
www wbfinance gov in
To login to www wbfinance gov in, you can click on the below link for visiting the Finance Department West Bengal official website:
Disclaimer: This website i.e. www.arthikdisha.com does not have any connection with the Finance Department Govt of West Bengal official website i.e. www wbfinance gov in.
This post is created for information purposes only and for no other means. Readers are advised not to consider this post as any recommendation. This post has no intention to hurt any sentiments, and is created to provide information only.
