West Bengal to release Rs 8 crore for small-scale units

Government of West Bengal (GoWB) has decided to immediately release the pending Rs 8 crore under the 'incentive scheme' to the small scale industries (SSI), said Asim Dasgupta, minister of finance, GoWB.

He further informed that the remaining pending amount as well as Rs 32 crore payment to the weaver in the unorganised handloom sector should be released within the next year by the state finance department.

Speaking on the closing ceremony of the 18th Industrial India Trade Fair (IITF), jointly organised by GoWB, Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BNCCI) and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Dasgupta welcomed SSI s for setting up industrial zones in collaboration with government utilities like Kolkata Municipal Development Authority (KMDA) on the vast stretches of land along the highways in the state.

"There is immense potential for setting of industrial zones mainly on land along two highways: one, that runs from Dankuni to Hooghly-Burdwan border (NH 2) and another from Kalyani to Sodepur", said Dasgupta.

West Bengal(WB) ranks first ahead of Maharashtra and Gujrat in term of functioning small-scale units (SSU), pointed Dasgupta while explaining the potential of the SSI segment in West Bengal.

"In 2002-03 there were 28 lakh SSU employing more than 60 lakh people", said Dasgupta. In this regard, S N Nundy informed that there have been discussion between BNCCI and department of Science and Technology, GoWB for setting up an 'incubation centre' for fostering SSIs.

In addition, BNCCI in collaboration with GoWB, might be coming up with special programme to encourage information technology business in the districts, added Nundy.

The 18th IITF has set up an impressive performance in terms of both quantity and quality. The amount of order booked was Rs 75.6 crore and business enquiry generated were in the tune of Rs 146 crore, informed Samir K Ghosh, chairman-IITF Committee.