New Delhi: With the emerging industries in West Bengal, including inland waterways transportation, warehousing, logistic facilities, green energy solutions and the recent move of the state government to promote electric vehicles, the state of West Bengal is ready to showcase its business readiness, Rajiv Sinha, the chairperson of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation told the Millennium Post.
He further said that the 'growth story' underlines the 'real development' of the state. The state's GDP has been growing at an average of 12.6 per cent between 2015-16 and 2020-21. Moreover, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was Rs.14.44 lakh crore in 2020-21. The state has the third-largest number of employment in the MSME sector in the country, the official added.
Even after a two-year gap, the government of West Bengal is also to host the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) in April next year, due to the ongoing pandemic crisis.
On Sunday, while addressing the media persons at the India International Trade Fair, 2021, especially on the occasion of West Bengal Day, the state officials mentioned that the state government has been providing various facilities for entrepreneurs, including green energy solution space, establishing an eco-system for electric vehicle manufacturing, assuring purchase commitment for cycle manufacturing units, developing inland waterways transportation and related infrastructure, developing warehousing and logistics facilities, technology-driven digital information systems and data centres.
Further, the state has provided a positive industrial ecosystem for further development of sectors- textile, gems and jewellery, foundry and forging, iron and steel, mining, plastics and petrochemicals, agribusiness, tourism, health and wellness sector, services industries with incentives for manufacturing units under micro, small and medium enterprises and private industrial parks.
The officials further claimed that West Bengal is one of the largest in India's Power distribution, quality and availability. The state is ready to invest in Industrial Infrastructure - more than 200 Industrial Parks or Estates spread over an area of around 10,000 acres. The state government also introduced a scheme of private industrial parks called SAIP (Scheme for Approved Industrial Park). Further, a total of USD 9,490 million exports had been made from the state in 2019-20 - 12 per cent of the country's leather and 10 per cent of iron and steel exports.
WBIDC chairperson Rajiv Sinha also said that West Bengal is home to India's largest number of MSMEs and accounts for 14 per cent of India's total MSMEs.
The upcoming deep-sea port at Tajpur with enhanced connectivity is aimed at North-Eastern India and South East Asia. Hence, an Expression of Interest (EOI) for Tajpur Port has been floated, government representatives mentioned during the press conference here. Further, West Bengal has the oldest maritime infrastructure with two major ports in Kolkata and Haldia.
West Bengal is home to top companies from a wide range of sectors, including iron and steel, tea, leather, jute, FMCG, metals and minerals, cement, textiles and apparel, logistics, chemicals, rubber, gems and jewellery, pharma, plastics and petroleum, an official statement mentioned.