With its view to attract investment, the Mamata Banerjee Government is all set to host a spectacular third edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Cash starved with a perennial lack of capital inflow, this is the third desperate attempt on the part of the Chief Minister to netblue-chip investments that have been long eluding Bengal, thanks to some violent movements by her party in Singur and Nadigram when she was in the Opposition, leading to a steady flight of capital and impressive loss of revenue.
Refusing to deviate from the Chief Minister’s emphatic standpoint, the State Government has sustained voted against any forcible acquisition of land for industry which has repeatedly dampened the spirits of investment in the State, experts say.
Even as the critics eagerly wait for a tweak in her land policy, State Finance Minister welcoming the investors has said “the Mamata Banerjee Government is confident of a much higher investment in the State at the summit,” adding, “that we are looking at investment in newer areas,fructification of projects and labour intensive investments.”
The Chief Minister had already said that land was not a big problem for the State as it had a large “land bank” of 4,400 acres.
According to sources the summit is likely to be attended by Bhutan Prime Minister, Tshering Tobgay, Bangladesh Commerce Minister TogailAhmed, British Minister for Employment Priti Patel, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, his other Cabinet colleagues ,like Piyush Goyal,Nitin Gadkari and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Among the who’s who of the industry is concerned: Reliance boss MukeshAmbani, Cyrus Ministry of the Tatas, Adi Godrej and Jindals are likelyto attend the mega jamboree sources maintained.
Meanwhile, in what could carry a positive signal for the likelyinvestors a day before the Business Summit the Chief Minister onMonday inaugurated a new Rs 400-crore cement plant of Jindal Steels at Salboni in West Midnapore.