CII helps North Bengal to draw new investment proposals to the tune of Rs 2700.71 cr: Amit Mitra

Prashant Acharya, EOI, 21 Dec 2018, SILIGURI: “We have received an Expression of Interest for new investment which is worth Rs 2700.71 crores in the 6th North Bengal Conclave, which also includes SAIP. Apart from new investment so far, work that has been completed is Rs 823.95 crores and work in progress is Rs 971.98 crores. This is just an indicative figure not exhaustive,” said Amit Mitra, Minister for Finance and Commerce & Industries told industry members while addressing at the 6th North Bengal Conclave on Friday at Siliguri.

“This shows the huge potential of the region. I assure you that the Government of West Bengal will extend every support to its entrepreneurs to promote North Bengal through investing in Food Processing, Tea, Fish Feed, Pharmaceutical, Textiles, Cold Storage, Plastic Processing & Polymers", Mitra said, adding to that North Bengal has the potential to be the heart of Logistics Hub for the country.

The State Government has launched special projects providing opportunities to private sector to set up industrial parks. At present 4 industrial parks under SAIP are being developed in Jalpaiguri and Dakshin Dinajpur minister said.

Mitra requested CII to update the Department regarding the projects which are in process or have already been started. “North Bengal will get more Industrial Parks in the future”, he said. The North Bengal Conclave was organised in association with West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation(WBIDC), Government of West Bengal.

Vandana Yadav, Managing Director, WBIDC, Government of West Bengal, said, West Bengal’s merchandise exports - US$ 9.14 billion during 2017-18 with annual growth rate 11.05%.

MD, WBIDC also spoke at length about the West Bengal Logistics Park Development and Promotion Policy, 2018, which has been released to facilitate and organize development of the Logistics Sector to boost investments and exports quantum in the state. She said that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation has created the Export Promotion Cell to facilitate export promotion. The cell, according to Yadav, will have regular reviews in terms of the progress of various export infrastructure works, export promotion schemes. It will also do a target-based performance monitoring of state export councils and overall export performance, she added.

Earlier, Kamal Kishore Tewari, Chairman, CII North Bengal Zonal Council, said North Bengal is one of the most amazing hotspots as a trade destination. A special focus should be made to promote exports, logistics &investment in North Bengal as well as in the neighbouring countries.

“CII has been in regular coordination and interaction with all the District Administration, DIC, and chambers and associations in the eight districts. CII Teams visit and meetrural entrepreneurs in the districts to forge synergistic alliances for sustainable development of the region which has in the past few years has seen significant changes and initiatives from the State Government by developing a value addition, value chain, market linkage from Farm to Fork,” Tewari said.