West Bengal plans incentives to spur industrial investments

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government is preparing a comprehensive industrial promotion policy that blends budgetary outlays with off-balance-sheet incentive mechanisms, finance minister Swapan Dasgupta said.

The government is exploring off-balance sheet incentives like soft loans to keep the weightage on budget-dependent industrial promotion lower, the finance minister said. Concession on power tariff is also being explored. On the budgetary side, a combination of capital subsidies and tax reimbursements are also being considered even as the state's Rs 8 lakh crore outstanding debt keeps its finances on strain.