Business lobby waiting eagerly for TMC manifesto release

The investment lobby in West Bengal are anxiously looking for the election manifesto which will be published on Friday.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will publish the manifesto at her Kalighat residence on Friday afternoon.

Business community feel that the manifesto is important as it will give a direction towards which the State government will function between 2016-2021.

As Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is inviting investors to the state and the Bengal Global Business Summit’s next session will be held on 20 and 21 January, 2017, businessmen feel that there will be a thrust on industry between 2016-2021. In the Bengal Global Business Summit held on January 9 and 10, there has been investment proposal to the tune of Rs 2.50 lakh crore.A businessman preferring anonymity said that though the Trinamool Congress was against creating SEZ, there might be some indication in this direction in the manifesto as two giants Wipro and Infosys had procured land and paid the entire money to Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation ( HIDCO) and both were waiting for a decision from the State government in the matter.

Along with medium and small industries, the State government might invite players to set up big industries including automobiles. A Chinese luxury bus manufacturer will soon start making buses at Andal. In a recent interview to a private channel, Mamata Banerjee had expressed her eagerness to sit with the Tatas to resolve the impasse at Singur. As the State government has prepared land bank, business lobby hopes that in the manifesto there will be some reference on the land policy. “The main thrust of the manifesto will be on agriculture and industry and the State government in the next five years will go all out to woo investors  in the state,” said a TMC leader.