West Bengal govt courts Aditya Birla Group, sees investment interest

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has requested the Aditya Birla Group to invest in the state, and the group has shown interest, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.

The Aditya Birla Group, which had left Bengal and relocated to Mumbai in the face of labour unrest, was recalled by Bhattacharya.

Iterating that he was hopeful of the Aditya Birla Group's investment in Bengal, Bhattacharya said, "We still remember how Aditya Birla was forced to leave Bengal. We have requested the group to come to Bengal. They will start afresh. We have now appealed to the Birla Group, as they have a deep, historical bond with Kolkata."


Bhattacharya, who is vocal about the flight of capital from Bengal, was addressing an event titled 'Business Opportunity Platform' today, organized by Business Aladin, which is planning to introduce B2B AI-enabled trading platforms and other business platforms to companies, including MSMEs. A tie-up was done with Bengal-based Khadi Gramodyog today.

“They too are interested,” he pointed out.

“The faster industrialization happens in the state and heavy industries are brought here, the better it is for the state. Similarly, purchasing power will increase, youth will get employment, and migration of talent from Bengal will stop. A signal will be sent to the entire world that West Bengal has a business-conducive environment. This had effectively dropped to zero, and this decline persisted for a long 50 years,” he said.

German collaboration possibilities in rare earths

“Companies from Germany, which work on rare earth minerals available in various places in West Bengal using technology that India does not possess, have contacted us. Since the central government does not allow any private company to undertake mining independently, they are looking to collaborate with PSUs to explore the vast reserves of rare earth minerals found in Bankura and Purulia,” he said.

To facilitate this through auctions, the cooperation required from the Trinamool government in the past, he added.

In three places in West Bengal, exploration for gold is underway, including Bankura, he elaborated. “Along with the Ashoknagar oil field, discoveries of new oil fields have been made. The government is working to increase connectivity because 63 railway projects have been stalled in West Bengal solely due to land acquisition issues.”

“The freight equalization policy pushed us backward in the past,” he admitted. “The Left Front regime in the past said that the biggest obstacle to industrialization was the freight equalization policy. No one will deny that. But at the same time, militant trade unionism also ruined West Bengal,” Bhattacharya pointed out.

"Former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya wanted to end red-tapism," Bhattacharya said.