West Bengal Spurs Investment: Entrepreneurs Shine at Bengal Global Business Summit Prelude

Dilip Guha, New Delhi: The Government of West Bengal in association with Confederation of Industry (CII) organised an Interactive Session with entrepreneurs of the state, as a precursor to the Magnum event of Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), 2023 on Wednesday August 23, 2023, at Taj Palace Hotel New Delhi.

The West Bengal government has focused on macro management, fiscal and revenue deficit management, stimulation of the economy by capital expenditure, investment in Agri and allied industries and infrastructure Amit Mitra, Principal Chief Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Department, Government of West Bengal (holding the rank of a Cabinet Minister) said in a press meet after the interactive session.

He informed that for the purpose of the meeting, there was Principal secretary to tourism because there were two Companies APJ group as well as ITC were into tourism. The APJ group gave a detailed presentation. Our colleague from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation was there And we had seven entrepreneurs in the meeting who shared their success story of having investment in the state.

“The whole idea is that the government doesn’t speak, the government facilitates. And the whole atmosphere was one of entrepreneurship. Am I right? So, we had 7 entrepreneurs from West Bengal, success stories which they presented to the people and their response was phenomenal. Entrepreneur speak, that was the theme. Investors speak, that was the theme. And I think that resonated very well.”Mitra said.

The West Bengal government will announce a host of policy decisions to facilitate and attract more investment during the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit, 2023.

The government is facilitating entrepreneurs through policies, Mitra said, adding that the state has a stable government, which works with the industry, and many new sectors will come and invest in the state. ”Several policies are in the process, which you will hear about in the Bengal Global Business Summit. Besides, there are several interesting policies that the government is working on,” Mitra told reporters on the sidelines of Confederation of Industry (CII) investor roadshows here. ”The Cabinet has passed some of them and… in the Bengal investment summit there will be a burst of policy areas, all of which promote greater investment,” he said. A total of 40 countries have participated in the roadshows this year, he said. ”I think there is a feeling in the air among people abroad, as well as entrepreneurs at home, that Bengal is the place to go,” Mitra said.

“We expect even greater investment offers in the upcoming Bengal Global Investment Summit to be held on November 21-22. We expect more sectors to emerge and also expect that international participation with technology-focused entities will be a new development,” Mitra added. He said Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employs 55,000 people in West Bengal and will add another 15,000 in the new campus. “If we have 65,000 people in TCS, it will be larger than Bengaluru,” Mitra said, adding that Jio is setting up a data Centre, while Cognizant is employing 22,000 people, and Wipro 12,000 people in the state.

He said West Bengal is the fourth largest state in India with the state GDP in the current fiscal projected to be Rs 17 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.5 lakh crore in 2010-11.

Speaking about export potential he said “West Bengal is moving forward because we have niche area exports. They eat shrimps. It’s a part of their European and American and Japanese and Korean diet. So the exports continue. Gold and wigs get exported. Human hair exports have become very very large. So my answer is that interestingly though there is a contraction of exports due to the geopolitical circumstances, we have managed to hold on to our core competencies because those just were the right entities for export.”