West Bengal may get 1 lakh crore investments in a few months: Suvendu Adhikari

Kolkata: West Bengal is expected to attract fresh investments of around ₹1 lakh crore within the next few months, and the state government is working to make land available to all investors, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said.

"We are currently in a position to facilitate investments of around ₹1 lakh crore over the next few months," Adhikari said at the unveiling of the state's investment promotion policy on Thursday.

He said the BJP-led government would offer incentives starting May 9, but would be unable to clear the industrial incentives backlog of nearly ₹50,000 crore owing to the state's debt burden of ₹8 lakh crore. He promised to clear the backlog once West Bengal becomes a financially stronger state like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the next two years.


The chief minister said the state had offered two plots of 15 acres each to Amul for ice-cream manufacturing units, while the Vedanta Group had selected a plot belonging to the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Land had also been arranged for projects belonging to Campa Cola and Reliance Industries at Haringhata, and for Matrix's expansion at Panagarh, he said.

Adhikari said the state had facilitated land arrangements for proposals involving the Sanjiv Goenka Group in Haldia, and had recovered plots belonging to several closed industrial units in the Barrackpore industrial belt. He said JSW Group chief Sajjan Jindal had proposed holding a groundbreaking ceremony for the second phase of the JSW Salboni Thermal Power Plant in the first week of January. The Reshmi Group was also planning groundbreaking ceremonies for a second plant at Kharagpur and two projects in Purulia.