The Bengal Global Business Summit to be held on 7th and 8th January, is supposed to be the litmus test for the Banerjee government. The state has followed the look east policy with delegations from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Taiwan coming. Also corporates from USA, UK and Germany will also be participating in the Summit. The state's government is seeking investments in nine major sectors that include IT Software & Hardware, Urban Infrastructure & Housing, Food Processing, MSME & Textiles, Healthcare Education & Skills, Energy & Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Hospitality & Tourism and Financial Services
Armed with the slogan of “Bengal Does Today...What India Thinks Tomorrow “- coined by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee- ahead of the Bengal Global Business Summit which is on 7th and 8th January 2015, Dr. Amit Mitra, Minister In Charge, Finance & Industries, Government Of West Bengal, was in Mumbai to talk about the resurgent Bengal. Giving a miss to his usual corporate avatar, Mitra himself looked a stamp of change, dressed in the traditional Bengali attire when he met media persons from Mumbai last week.
According to Mitra the summit will bring to the fore the readiness of the State in terms of taking on challenges and meeting aspirations.” Our vision for this year's business summit is to create a blueprint that will explore new possibilities of creating a resurgent Bengal,” he said.
Mitra informed that the government has undertaken fiscal reform through e-taxation. “This has resulted in states’ tax growth,” said Mitra. State's tax collection has doubled from Rs 21,000 crore in 2010-011 to Rs. 40,000 crore in 2013-14, largest increase in a state in such a short time period,” he said.
He pointed out that in terms of IIP in 2013-14; West Bengal grew by 6.3% where as all India growth figure is negative 0.1%. “Capital Expenditure growth is to the tune of 103% in 2013-14 from (-) 26.08% in 2010-11, indicating massive capital formation,” said Mitra. The estimated planned expenditure for the financial year 2014-15 is 32.82% compared to 16.22% in FY10-11.
The State Government has been undertaking several policy measures and incentives for the overall socio-economic development of the economy. West Bengal government has introduced four new policies to incentivise the investors. State has come out with New Industrial policy, MSME policy. Textile policy which is very labour intensive and information technology policy. With the aim to make the administration transparent and accountable, government have started process reforms by way of e-tendering, self declared refunds, self generated weight bill without check posts. Stating that the era of strikes and labour unions are passé due to strict measures undertaken by the Chief Minister, Mitra said, “We want to create an environment high compliance and GDP growth.”
Mitra pointed out that many corporates are in the process of making huge investments in the state. Haldia is set to be the next petrochemical hub. The steel city of Durgapur and the belts of Asansol are gaining popularity as a ferro alloy hub. “The declared and proposed investments in the state are approximately Rs 83,211crore. TCS, ADAG, NTPC, SAIL, L&T, Shapoorji Pallonji, Emami, Tata Hitachi, Tata Metaliks and Mitsubishi are some of the names that have already made investments or are in the process.
For the forthcoming summit which is supposed to be the litmus test for the Banerjee government, the state has followed the look east policy with delegations from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Taiwan coming. Also corporates from USA, UK and Germany will also be participating in the Summit. The government is seeking investments in nine major sectors that include IT Software & Hardware, Urban Infrastructure & Housing, Food Processing, MSME & Textiles, Healthcare Education & Skills, Energy & Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Hospitality & Tourism and Financial Services.