West Bengal gets investment proposals worth ₹3.42 lakh crore at business summit
The business proposed in the earlier five editions of Bengal Global Business Summit amounted to ₹1,235,578 crore, according to data shared by the state government
KOLKATA: West Bengal has received investment proposals worth ₹3.42 lakh crores during the two-day business summit, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday.
“I am extremely happy to announce that we have received investment proposals worth ₹3,42,375 crores during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022. This business summit is expected to generate around 4 lakh jobs. It was a remarkable success,” Banerjee said while speaking on the last day of the sixth BGBS.
The summit has been a flagship industrial event of the Mamata Banerjee-led administration. The event could not be held for two consecutive years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The next summit will be held from February 1-3 next year, the chief minister informed.
“At least 37 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and letters of intent (LoIs) were signed in these two days. Around 4,300 participants from 42 countries, including more than 500 international delegates, attended the summit,” she said.
While the Adani Group announced that it will invest ₹10,000 crore in the state over the next decade, the JSW Group announced that they will develop a 900 MW pumped storage hydel power project.
The business proposed in the earlier five editions of BGBS amounted to ₹1,235,578 crore, according to data shared by the state government.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, however, on multiple occasions slammed the government for not sharing details of investments received from the five editions of BGBS. Earlier, the Governor also asked former state finance minister Amit Mitra to come up with a white paper.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too raised questions against the Trinamool Congress-led state government about the investment proposals received in earlier summits.
“Kolkata has no direct flights to other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States or Singapore. This means that no one is interested to come and invest here. No one knows what happened to the previous investment proposals received in the earlier summits,” said Dilip Ghosh, BJP national vice president.
While laying the road map of business development, Banerjee said the state government has come up with committees in six sectors, including agriculture, tourism and mining, among others.
“These committees, which comprise representatives from industries, will continue to function round the year. The committees will meet once every month and suggest policy changes needed to attract more investments and generate more jobs. The recommendations of the committees will be placed before the West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board for discussion and consideration. A task force headed by the chief secretary will support and assist the sectorial committees. This will allow the government to monitor the status of approvals and make necessary interventions,” she added.
The chief minister also said that she, along with a team comprising top bureaucrats and industrialists, will soon visit some countries to bring in more investments. Before the pandemic struck in early 2020, Banerjee visited Germany, Italy and Singapore to attract investments for West Bengal.
On Wednesday, while addressing the launch of the business summit, Banerjee said that the Union government should not use central agencies to harass industrialists who were coming to invest in West Bengal.
Earlier in March, Banerjee wrote to non-BJP chief ministers and opposition parties alleging that central agencies are being misused by the ruling party at the Centre to target the opposition.