Small holdings thwart Bengal land drive

The small size of land holdings in West Bengal was the biggest hurdle in taking over land for new industries in the state, Pradeep Udhas, head markets, KPMG Advisory Services, said here on the sidelines of a seminar in Kolkata on Friday.

The advisory company recently conducted a survey on "Sustainable Development" in West Bengal, where it studied sectors of West Bengal like land-related problems, power and infrastructure. A copy of the report had been submitted to the West Bengal government, he said.

KPMG had suggested that the government should have a comprehensive land policy to solve the problem.

Also, the IT sector in West Bengal was lagging behind other states, as people outside the state continued to have a negative perception.

"It is not easy to solve the land problem. The state needs to educate the people. The productivity from the agricultural sector is low in the state due to its fragmented structure. The agriculture and the industrial sectors in the state need to co-exist in a healthy way," he said.

He suggested that instead of business process outsourcing, West Bengal should focus on knowledge process outsourcing, due to its good knowledge base.