From business summit dais, Bengal CM pitches for a national role

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday used the star-studded dais of country’s top industrialists at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) to say “a new government at the Centre” after the general elections would bring in a new pro-industry policy, projecting herself as the pro-business face of the federal alliance, the contours of which are still blurred for the want of a credible leader.

Her pitch for a new industry policy not only suggested that she was more than hopeful of a non-BJP government at the Centre, but it also reflected her intentions of essaying a role in the national arena as a binding factor in mobilising other parties. Banerjee also made it clear that she would like to see all the states to prosper together. And on the first day of BGBS, the India Inc proposed investment worth over Rs 48,000 crore for Bengal.



“We will be having the elections soon. I know you (industrialists) are facing some problems. I assure that after the change at the Centre, we will bring in a new industry policy that will help boost the industry,” said Banerjee amidst applause from several people present on the dais. “Many industrialists have left the country for several reasons. I will also request them to come back and invest in their own country.”

Among the top industrialists present on the dais were Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman Rajan Bharti Mittal, Niranjan Hiranandani of Hiranandani Group, Karan Adani of the Adani Group, Sanjiv Goenka, TCG chairman Purnendu Chatterjee, Sanjiv Puri, managing director of ITC, and Universal Success chairman Prasoon Mukherjee. Her pitch for a pro-industry policy after the Lok Sabha polls in the presence of top industrialists went on to lend much more credence to the idea.

Several businessmen and bureaucrats present at BGBS said the Bengal CM was trying to bring the economic factors like unemployment, farmers’ income and sluggish industrial growth to centrestage to make them a poll issue and project herself as a crusader for industry-related issues. She also tried to strike a chord with other states by saying that she did not want economic growth only for her state, but for every province. She held a meeting on January 19, which was attended by leaders of more than 21 political parties from across the country.

“We want the entire motherland to grow. My Gujarat should grow, my Rajasthan should grow, my Madhya Pradesh should grow, my Odisha should grow — we cannot isolate anybody. We will have to accommodate everybody,” said Banerjee. Her statement also becomes important in the backdrop of reports of the slowest job growth in several decades, sluggish industrial growths and high NPAs.

Meanwhile, besides Ambani and Mittal, there were a host of other investment proposals. ITC has committed fresh investment of Rs 1,700 crore. “This will take our recent total investment to Rs 5700 crore, which includes a state-of-the-art FMCG personal care products manufacturing facility, investments in the décor paper manufacturing capacity at Tribeni to substitute imports, expansion of the Dhulagarh facility and others as well as the milk productivity improvement and procurement programme across 300 villages in the state,” Puri said. Jindal announced doubling of cement plant capacity by 2.4 million tonne. Besides, he has proposed a pump storage power project with an investment of $1billion (over Rs 7,000 crore).

Another major breakthrough was the revival of Kulpi port project. DP World announced that it would set up a container port terminal at Kulpi with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore. It wil be a JV between DP World, Keventer and the state government.