Bengal promised Rs2.15 trillion investment

West Bengal has attracted 31 major investments worth Rs 2.15 lakh crore in the past 11 months and another Rs 50,000 crore are in the pipeline, according to an Associated Chambers of Commerce (Assocham) study.

Addressing the media while releasing the report, Venugopal Dhoot, Asscham president said, the investments happened despite Nandigram and appealed to all not to mix politics with economics and give development a chance, currently blowing towards the state, after a considerable gap of time.

Assocham would also promote West Bengal at the India-EU Summit to be held at Brussels on December 3 and 4. Dhoot said, there would be a one-hour discussion on Bengal at the summit, which would be attended more than 500 potential investors.

West Bengal ranked third in terms of investment proposals bagged in the last 11 months, with Orissa topping the charts. The sectors that saw major investment are steel, real estate, oil and gas, retail and IT.

The steel sector has attracted maximum investment of Rs 56,400 crore.

The employment potential in the proposed investment would be 95,741.

The booming real estate sector saw investments announcements of Rs 36,900 crore with leading companies like DLF with a capex of Rs. 33,000 crore, Merlin Group with an investment decision of Rs 10,000 crore, Shriram Properties with a capex of Rs 5,500 crore, Ambuja Realty Developers Ltd with an investment plan of Rs 2,900 crore.

"The lining up of real estate giants in West Bengal has thrown an opportunity of building up new and up-grading its existing infrastructural base," said Dhoot.

The energy generation in West Bengal could get a major boost as major investment plans have been drawn up by companies like IOC, Reliance Industries and Abhijit Group.

The oil sector received the third largest capital expenditure. Announcements worth Rs 29,750 crore were made by Indian Oil Corporation for setting up a world-class petro-chemical production centre at Haldia.

Dhoot said, the fourth largest electricity generating state (24,888 million kilowatt in FY05), the power sector was attracting huge investments worth Rs 26,000 crore, with a major announcement of Rs 12,000 crore by the RPG group in the power business, Rs 5,400 crore made by the Abhijit group, followed by Bharat Alumunium Ltd with a capex of Rs 4,400 crore and Bhushan Steel with an investment plan of Rs 4,200 crore, JSW and Videocon etc.

In the IT and ITES sector, companies like Rolta India, R P Infosystems made a total investment of 1,950 crore in the state during the year.