Loosened: praise-strings ..Ambani's 'Best Bengal' meets Hiranandani's 'super ke upar'; specifics awaited

HIGH TIME: (From right) Mukesh Ambani, Mamata Banerjee, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Sajjan Jindal and Uday Kotak at the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Rajarhat on Tuesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya 

Devadeep Purohit, TT, Jan 16, 2018, Newtown: The score at stumps on Day One of the Bengal Global Business Summit: Bengal 1, the event 1 and Mamata Banerjee 1 plus 1 plus 1.

If Mukesh Ambani described West Bengal as “Best Bengal”, Niranjan Hiranandani conferred the title of “super ke upar (better than the best)” on the chief minister who in turn certified the summit “top of the top”.

“This year’s summit is top of the top,” the chief minister told reporters after the end of the day’s programme. “This is a cause for pride for the people of Bengal as people are praising the state,” she added.

Mamata had earlier wrapped up her speech in 17 minutes — brief by her standards — but sources in the government said she wanted the guests to do all the talking.

Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, did not let her down: “Didi, under your leadership, West Bengal is becoming Best Bengal.”

Ambani made the statement after describing as “word class” the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, the venue of the summit that was attended by around 2,500 people.

Then came the compliment of the day from Hiranandani, co-founder and managing director of the Hiranandani Group, and a self-confessed sceptic-turned-admirer of Bengal.

“When my son came to Bengal for business, I said ‘no, no, no’…. But then, my opinion changed. You are not the best chief minister, you are super ke upar,” he said, before referring to Bengal as the “best place to invest”.

Lavish praise for the political leadership from participants in business summits is not unusual. But a city-based industrialist pointed out later: “All these people have businesses across the country and they also have to deal with the BJP-led Centre…. Still, they are praising a sworn enemy of the BJP. You cannot call these sweet nothings.”

No one represented the central government this time.

While words of praise from captains of industry are important for a state like Bengal that is desperately scouting for investments, the proof of the state’s attractiveness will lie in specifics and money the investors will eventually put where their mouths are.

On that count, Day One did not produce much as not too many details were spelt out. The announcements included Ambani’s commitment to make Bengal a digitally smart state through Reliance Jio and Rs 5,000 crore non-Jio investments, Sajjan Jindal’s promise to pump in Rs 10,000 crore in the next three to four years (which has been in the pipeline for some time) and Sanjiv Goenka’s commitment to invest Rs 1,700 crore.

“The MoUs will be signed tomorrow (Wednesday) and you will get to know how successful the summit is in terms of attracting investments,” said finance and industries minister Amit Mitra. He hinted at some policy announcements on Wednesday.

“When people like Ambani and L.N. Mittal come, you know that they have come for some reason,” he added. Mittal did not announce any investment initiative for Bengal but he committed to include Bengal in the activities of Lakshmi and Usha Mittal Foundation.

In terms of participation, the list of those who shared the dais with Mamata could not have been more impressive. Other than Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal, Hiranandani and Jindal, the opening session drew Aloke Lohia of Indorama Corporation, Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Ajay Singh of SpiceJet and Kishore Biyani of the Future Group.