West Bengal setting up Rs. 72k cr industrial zone

Kolkata: Even as Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress and the Saffron Brigade keep on getting engaged in pitched and fierce political battle, the Adani Group, often perceived to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP, on Wednesday pledged to invest Rs10,000 crore in West Bengal over the next decade, much to the pleasure of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The state government will set up Rs72,000-crore industrial zone in 'Junglemahal' (forested areas of four south Bengal districts) along the eastern freight corridor, and has readied a policy on grant of shale-gas exploration licences

Billionaire Gautam Adani, who is currently the only Indian on Bloomberg's top-10 Billionaire list, is the founder and chairman of Adani Group, a port and energy conglomerate with seven publicly-listed companies in India, was personally present at the much-hyped Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022 in Kokata to make this announcement. BGBS could not take place for the last two years, thanks to Covid-19 pandemic.

Adani said the group will invest in port and infrastructure such as data centre, undersea cable, centre of excellence, warehousing and logistic parks to expand its business in the state. Group company Adani Wilmar has an edible oil plant in Haldia in West Bengal. "I am commuting my promise to live up to the expectations of the people of Bengal," Adani said at the sixth edition of BGBS. This is Gautam Adani's first appearance in BGBS, which has turned 6th this time round. He said the investment will help generate 25,000 direct and indirect employment. Adani is also the highest bidder for the Tajpur deep sea port but the state is yet to announce Adani Port as the L1 bidder.

At present, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, Adani Ports and Adani Wilmar are listed on the bourses.

Interestingly, West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankar also spoke very high of West Bengal's potential as an investment destination, brushing aside his regular twitter onslaughts on Mamata Banerjee and her government. Bengal Chief Minister, however, minced no word in taking a dig at the Governor and publicly urged on the State Governor (with a pinch of salt) not to harass and disturb industrialists using central agencies because they are coming to Bengal. The Chief Minister urged the business community to treat Bengal as their home.

My government has brought down man-days lost in the State due to strikes and disruptions to zero from 75 lakh per year during the erstwhile Left regime

– Mamata Banerjee, CM