Mamata likely to visit US to attract investments in state

Kolkata: With an aim to ensure setting up of more industries in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit the US to attract investment from American companies in Bengal.

Sources said that a message regarding the planning for the Chief Minister to visit the US has been given to its chamber of commerce. If everything goes as planned, the Chief Minister's Office would be finalising the schedule of her visit.

This comes when the Chief Minister has given a clear message after coming to power for the third consecutive term that her aim is to attract more investment in the state to make Bengal number one in industry and commerce.

Bengal has attracted more than 1 lakh crore investments in the past 10 years since Trinamool Congress came to power and a major part of Rs 13 lakh crore investment proposals received through the five editions of Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) is getting implemented. At the same time an investment of around Rs 1.5 lakh crore is currently taking place in the state to create nearly 5 lakh employment opportunities.

According to a senior official, the recently introduced "Data Centre Industry Policy" would benefit the state immensely in attracting investment and guidelines of the same would be framed shortly. The guidelines may be highlighted by the Chief Minister during her visit to the US. The state government has also introduced "Ethanol Production Promotion Policy" to encourage setting up of ethanol production units in Bengal where its raw material - rice bran – is available in excess.

She has also directed to organise the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) this time as it had not been possible to hold the same in the past two years due to Covid pandemic. Sources said that Banerjee's visit to the US would take place before the BGBS itself and it would open the door for announcement of a huge investment in the business summit.

The Chief Minister is going to discuss a series of investment related issues in the forthcoming meetings of the West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board of which she is the chairperson.