West Bengal Chief Minister Subhendu Adhikari on Friday said he was keen on creating a conducive environment and bringing in policy changes to boost industrialization, which has suffered over the past few decades.
“I don’t want to deal with manufacturing in a haphazard manner. I am trying to create a conducive environment for industries. We will also make policy changes to help manufacturing,” the Prime Minister said when asked if he would invite the Tata Group, which has divested. $2000 crore Nano car factory in 2008.
Adhikari formed a four-member committee, led by new Bangladeshi Industry Minister Tapas Rai, to propose a new industrial policy.
Between 2019 and 2025, as per available data, West Bengal ranked 11th and fell behind states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in terms of FDI inflows. While Maharashtra attracted $Only Bengal received Rs 7.88 lakh crore of FDI during this period $Rs 16,409 crore.
The BJP formed its first government in West Bengal in May this year, after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress ruled the state for 15 years. In the first budget presented by the BJP government, incentives to set up new industries and a plan to make the state a defense manufacturing hub were among the highlights.
Adhikari also noted that the Tata group already has a strong presence in the state, but noted that his government may go after a salt-to-semiconductor conglomerate to set up a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the state. The Tata group is developing such facilities in Assam and Gujarat.
Meanwhile, a senior functionary close to the Prime Minister has claimed that the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) legislation is likely to be passed next month.
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