Union ministers skip Bengal investment summit

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday bore the brunt of taking on the Centre over demonetisation.

Unlike the second edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit, there were no central ministers who graced the occasion. Some of the who’s who from India Inc, too, gave it a miss this time, as did “friends” like Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The flagbearers from Bengal’s business community, Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the RPG Sanjiv Goenka group, and Harshvardhan Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia group, were present. Among the business personalities from outside the state were Bharti Enterprises Vice-Chairman, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Future Group Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer Kishore Biyani, O P Munjal Group Chairman Pankaj Munjal and Bharat Hotels Chairman and Managing Director Jyotsna Suri. 

Suri and Mittal were present last year as well, but participation by India Inc was greater last time. It had included Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, JSW Steel Group Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal, Hiranandani Group Co-founder and Managing Director Niranjan Hiranandani, and Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra. What might have added fillip to last year’s show was the participation of four key ministers from the Centre: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Coal, Power and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal, Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu were present. None of them was present this time. Jaitley had, apparently, accepted the invitation from the state but later backed out. Prabhu was in North Bengal and flagged off some trains, but did not grace the occasion.

The Centre’s relations with the state have soured since demonetisation with Banerjee raising the pitch on the issue. At the summit, Banerjee said industries, small business, traders and farmers were suffering due to demonetisation, but she did not make it the mainstay of her speech.

Banerjee’s pitch for investment in Bengal was the usual: Cheap labour, gateway to the east and a land bank. “We are power surplus. We have a policy to clear land mutation within 15 days,” she said.

“Consider us as your family member. Treat Bengal as your own state,” was how she signed off.

However, while the Centre went unrepresented at the summit, President Pranab Mukherjee attended the event sounding optimistic about the state’s resurgence.

“When I received the invitation, I thought as a President of the republic, should I attend a state programme? But then, India is a federal country,” he said.

Mentioning that the Indian economy had withstood major global financial crises in the past, recording 7.6 per cent growth in the past 10 years, the President said interest rates needed to be “acceptable, lower and stable”, which would encourage investors.

Most investment was in the form of commitments. The most significant was from Sanjiv Goenka, who said his group would invest Rs 10,000 crore in the FMCG industry. GAIL Chairman and Managing Director BC Tripathi said his company would invest Rs 6,000 crore for laying the Durgapur-Haldia-Kolkata gas pipeline and executing the city gas supply project. The projects, however, are not new proposals.

Biyani said he was planning to set up an apparel manufacturing hub. The Future Group is also working with the state’s food supplies and agricultural marketing departments. “A logistics hub will be set up in Barddhaman, which will be the second after Nagpur. And this hub will source products from 186 Krishak Bazaars through a tie-up with the state’s agri-marketing department,” he said. The Hero group will set up a pedal and electric bicycle plant in West Bengal with a capacity of 3 million units. “It will be a gateway of exports to Bangladesh, South East Asia and Australia,” Munjal said.