'Bengal moving rapidly towards a more conducive business environment'

Kolkata: In Ease of Doing Business (EODB), Bengal ranks high because it is rapidly moving towards achieving a positive change in the business environment. Entrepreneurs are trusted to get their certifications in order, instead of authorities asserting a set of compulsions, said Sanjeev Chopra, additional chief secretary, department of Industry Commerce and Enterprises and director general, Administrative Training Institute.

He was addressing the second edition of the National Leadership Conference on First Generation Entrepreneurs, organised by the CII-Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence on Thursday.

He further said that the state government is proactively engaging in dialogues with the industry and industry bodies like CII on a regular basis, enabling things to move

faster.

"Bengal is the 4th largest economy in the country and 4th largest contributor in services GDP. The entrepreneurial spirit of Bengal is undermined. We have the West Bengal MSME Venture Capital Fund, which envisages support to investors looking to reach the MSME space. This is for both Manufacturing and Services," said Vandana Yadav, managing director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited.

While lauding the Bengal Government, Sanjay Budhia, managing director, Patton Group, said: "The government is surely moving fast on mobilising optimum assistance to entrepreneurs. Not only does the government offer assistance but also aims at providing guidance".

"The new decade going ahead will be an era of entrepreneurship. The reality is that traditional jobs are getting fewer and in order to provide meaningful economic opportunities to the teeming millions of this country, one needs to consider various avenues concerning micro, small and medium enterprises.

And entrepreneurship will

play a key role," said Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, CII-Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership and chairman, Ambuja-Neotia Group.

Over the course of the next two days, the conference will feature over 40 eminent speakers, and will showcase expert perspectives across ten sessions, covering a wide array

of critical issues and opportunities faced by nascent entrepreneurs.