Fresh hope for Walmart

West Bengal has not yet completely closed its doors on Walmart and foreign direct investment in retail.

Speaking at the annual consular corps business seminar, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief minister of West Bengal, said the government had not categorically denied the entry of retail major Walmart but would need more time to evaluate the repercussions and impact of its entry on the middle players of the supply chain and the small fruits and vegetable markets around the state.

The chief minister was answering a question raised by the American consul general, Henry V Jardine, on the state's stance on FDI in retail.

Bhattacharjee said capital had no colour and American investment was as welcome as German investments, referring to the permission granted to the German retail major Metro to set up operations in wholesale markets in Bengal.

The Union finance minister P Chidambaram cited statistics to praise the growth of West Bengal's state domestic product (SDP) from 4.18 per cent in the 1990s when the national average was 5.61 per cent, and then Bengal's 1993-2003 SDP growth of 7.1 per cent vis-à-vis the national average of 6 per cent.

Per capita income growth in the 1990s was 1.59 per cent against national average of 2.59 per cent, but in 1993-2003, SDP same grew at 5.51 per cent against the national average was 4 per cent. Chidambaram said this indicated stability and sign of greater things to come.

Agricultural productivity in Bengal was 2424 Kg/hectare for foodgrains as compared to the national average of 1739 kg/hectare, Chidambaram pointed out.

"India cannot look east without looking at West Bengal," Chidambaram remarked.

The finance minister said the state would benefit from the free trade agreement (FTA) signed with Thailand and the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with Singapore, along with similar deals being currently negotiated with Asean and Japan.

The Indo-China trade, Chidambaram highlighted, was growing at 50 per cent and looked set to overtake the Indo-USA trade. West Bengal was ideally suited to tap this boom, the finance minister said.

Commenting on the mid-term economic review, the finance minister said under-performing sectors like coal suffered despite presence of large reserves because the legal framework for exploitation was inefficient.

Coal India made more money out of closing mines than exploiting them. Electricity suffered from lack of incentives for generation, transmission and distribution, Chidambaram admitted. He urged family businesses in Kolkata to be more nimble rather than stodgy.

The finance minister said the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) would organise workshops to educate SMEs on the revised credit policy for the sector.

Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, said West Bengal was one of the focus areas for the group especially for its auto and auto ancillary business expansion. Tata Sons was examining several states simultaneously and would decide on the location of new plants in six months, Tata said.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the state government would request Coal India to upgrade its technology for deep mines. "CIL abandoned some mines in the state but the government feels that it could exploit those mines with better technology," he said.

CIL recently closed 26 mines in West Bengal.