West Bengal is creating a 500 km long industrial corridor stretching all the way from the upcoming port region of Tajpur to Purulia – right on the state’s border with Jharkhand – and promote clusters will cater to sectors like cement, edible oil, steel and iron-ore making, among others.
The corridor will also leverage the deep sea port’s connectivity with rest of Bengal in terms of supplies and facilitate “faster movement of goods”, Rajiva Sinha, Chairman, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) – the industrial investment promotion nodal agency of the state government – said.
The Rs 6000 – 7000 crore greenfield deep-sea port project (at Tajpur) have bidders in Adani Ports and JSW Group. The winner is expected to be announced soon and the project has a completion deadline of 48-50 months.
Connectivity issues (from the port ) like building of roads and laying of rail will be taken care of by the state government to ensure that there be an “ecosystem for industries to invest”.
The state government, he said, has reduced compliance requirements – to around 30-50 depending on nature of industry, from over 200 – and simplified the processes by listing them on a website with an “easy to use interface”.
“A number of industries are envisaging interest to invest in the state,” Sinha told BusinessLine, on the sidelines of a roadshow organised jointly with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The Bengal Global Business Summit will be held on April 21 and 22.
“We are creating an ecosystem for the industry to invest. The state has the potential to emerge as the gateway to the East and North East; as well as for some of the neighbouring nations like Bangladesh and Nepal.,” he said.
New Policies
Sinha said, the state government was also mulling a new Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, where it would facilitate the setting up of shop by “component makers”. The State Budget has already proposed a tax holiday on EVs sold at a consumer level.
Defence manufacturing would also be encouraged ; with MSMEs being given a priority. This apart, investments in cement, iron and steel and food processing would be encouraged. Fertiliser-making & textiles are other areas of interest.
“Bengal is already a cement hub and Aditya Birla Group is setting up its paint factory too. So there is definitely potential to tap large manufacturing industries too,” he said.
On the other hand, the state government would continue with its “hands off” land acquisition policy; but would “definitely step in” to facilitate in case there is an issue. He stated a recent instance, where a logistics company was suggested to change its investment plan and shift to an alternate land parcel “since there were legal issues with the land it had agreed to acquire”.
Improved Growth Numbers
Sinha pointed out that Bengal’s GDP has been growing at an average of 12.6 per cent between 2015-16 and 2020-2021.
In 2020-21, the state’s GDP stood at Rs 14.44 lakh crore.
Despite the pandemic, the state’s GSDP grew at 1.2 per cent, higher than the nation’s GDP which witnessed a decline during the period.
Size of the state Budget has also gone up from Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 300,000 crore in the 10 year period with focus on infrastructure growth, widening of social security net for its people and a “multiple fold rise” in agri and capital expenditure.
During the last decade, the number of manhours lost by businesses owing to strikes and lock-outs have been reduced to almost nil.