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Principal chief advisor to West Bengal chief minister Amit Mitra said on Thursday that massive write-offs in the last nine years and low recovery is presently ailing the banking sector of the country. Speaking at a CII banking session here, Mitra said that in the last nine years from 2014-2023, Rs 14.56 lakh crore has been written off from the books of the banks. During 2021-22, the written-off amount was Rs 1.75 lakh crore, and subsequently Rs 2.09 lakh crore in the succeeding fiscal. Mitra, also the former finance minister of the West Bengal government, said that union minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad had informed Parliament that out of the total written-off amount of Rs 14.56 lakh crore, Rs 7.40 lakh crore are for large industry and services segments. He said, however, the recovery had been low to the tune of Rs 2.04 lakh crore out of Rs 14.56 lakh crore, which means more than Rs 12 lakh crore is yet to be recovered. According to him, the amount of write-offs in the
West Bengal on Thursday pitched for more employment generation in the state through US-India partnership. Principal chief advisor to West Bengal chief minister Amit Mitra said that the need of the hour is creation of more employment through exports, strengthening of the MSME sector in the state and value-chain integration. Speaking at a session of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce virtually, Mitra said "During 2022-23, exports from West Bengal to the US increased 55 per cent over the previous period." Mitra, who also holds the rank of a state cabinet minister, said that exports from West Bengal to the US stood at approximately USD 13 to 15 billion. "Nearly ten per cent of India's exports to the US originates from West Bengal," he said. The major items of exports to the US from West Bengal are gems and jewellery, shrimp, human hair for wigs and industrial gloves among others, he stated. Mitra said, "According to the RBI, West Bengal is the fourth largest economy in the country
Alleging that GST frauds are proliferating across the country and MSMEs are facing problems due to a web of regulations, Dr Amit Mitra, principal chief advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to convene a GST Council meeting to discuss these issues. Mitra, a former state finance minister, referred to the central government's admission in the Lok Sabha that Rs 1.15 lakh crore of fraud have been detected from GST invoices between 2018-19 and 2022-23. "I write this letter with great anguish and deep concern. On one hand, GST frauds are proliferating across the country penetrating each and every state. On the other, the web of regulations is so overpowering for the MSMEs, that they are on the verge of deregistering back to their informal status," Mitra said. The humongous' fraud taking place in the country and the suffering of the MSME in the current GST system require a total rethink by the Centre and the GST Council on the
The West Bengal government on Friday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging her to call a special meeting of the GST Council to address cases of massive overregulation and the current state of the MSMEs that have registered under the GST regime. Dr Amit Mitra, the principal chief advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well to the finance department, said in a letter to Sitharaman that the "labyrinthine regulatory structures have engulfed MSMEs in particular, dragging them to an abyss". "I urge you to call a special and exclusive meeting of the GST Council to address the case of massive overregulation and the current state of the MSMEs who have dared to register under the GST regime in their quest to become formal," Mitra wrote in the three-page letter. The former state finance minister's call for the special meeting came a day before the 49th GST Council meeting is scheduled to take place on Saturday in New Delhi. The meeting will be held two ...