West Bengal: Taking a Good Turn

                                               West Bengal: Taking a Good Turn

                                   

                                                                       - Dr. Keshab Chandra Mandal

One of the top industrialists of West Bengal, Sanjiv Goenka said that, "Bengal can be a huge attraction for British companies when it comes to sectors like urban infrastructure, energy, power distribution and retail." However, Mamata Banerjee plans to hard-sell Bengal - the sixth largest economy in India after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, with a gross state domestic product of $114.6 billion in 2012-13. The Trinamool government is also offering 1.06 lakh acres of land to industries wanting to set up projects. The state's land department has 76,000 acres while other departments account for 30,000 acres. WBIDC alone has 3,263 acres ready for use.

More than 700 British companies are already operating in India and around 19 of them have a presence in Bengal. These include Standard Chartered, HSBC, BT, MaxBupa, Pavers, Bourneville College, Joy Mining, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, Siemens Vai and Unilever. Mamata Banerjee highlighted that Bengal's GDP grew by 7.6% — higher than India's 4.96% in 2012-13. Bengal's industrial sector grew by 6.24% while that of India grew by 3.12%. In the services sector, the state grew by 9.48% while India grew by 6.59%. Since May 2011, the state has received investment proposals to the tune of £13.6 billion.

It is a fact that, West Bengal and Kolkata is India's gateway to Southeast Asia. The state is surrounded by key states like Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand. It straddles the route into Myanmar and ASEAN. In fact it is quicker to fly to Bangkok from Kolkata than it is to fly to Mumbai. Added to this, 70% of India's natural resources are in eastern India, there is a large cluster of mining and metallurgical companies based in Bengal.

Top leaders in the UK feel that, in many ways, Bengal is playing catch-up after a slumber caused by some 34 years of communist party rule. However, growth in Bengal is accelerating not just for internal reasons but also because of the state's unique strategic position. Recent data shows that Kolkata is now home to India's third highest chunk of millionaires — with net assets of $1 million or more — higher than Asia Pacific heavyweights like Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. At present, Kolkata is home to 8,700 millionaires. Between 2004 and 2014, the number of multi-millionaires — worth $10 million — in the City of Joy had also seen a whopping 171% increase, much higher than Bangkok (161%), Kuala Lumpur (139%), Singapore (138%), Seoul (83%), Hong Kong (83%) and Tokyo (53%). Kolkata is now home to 570 people worth over $10 million as against 210 in the year 2004.