Bengal Global Business Summit yields Rs 4.4-lakh crore bids, Mamata says Bengal a growth powerhouse

In this year’s summit, held on Wednesday and Thursday in Kolkata, the investment proposals received amounted to Rs 4.4 lakh crore. In the BGBS 2023, the amount was Rs 3.76 lakh crore, and in the year before that, it was Rs 3.42 lakh crore. No BGBS was held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic. In the five summits held before that, the total investment proposals each year ranged from Rs 2.43 lakh crore in 2015 to Rs 2.84 lakh crore in 2019.

“The dream of ‘Biswa Bangla’, a Bengal that leads by example, a Bengal that is future-ready, a Bengal that speaks to the world, is a reality, unfolding before our eyes. The vision I set in motion has borne fruit, and Bengal is on the map, as a leader, as an innovator, as a partner for the world,” the Chief Minister said in a post on X a day after the summit’s conclusion.

At BGBS 2025, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said that the group had invested over Rs 50,000 crore in West Bengal since 2016 and that it would double that investment by 2030.

Other major investment proposals came from JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, who announced the setting up of two thermal power plants of 800 MW each at Salbani in West Medinipur district with a proposed investment of Rs 16,000 crore; Harshvardhan Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group, who announced an investment of more than Rs 15,000 crore in the next five years; and RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka, who announced investment of Rs 10,000 crore.

Mamata Banerjee, who assumed office as West Bengal Chief Minister in 2011, organised the first BGBS in 2015.

“During the seven editions of the BGBS, we had received investment proposals of over Rs 19 lakh crore. Of these, projects worth Rs 13 lakh crore have already been completed and projects worth Rs 6 lakh crore are in process,” Banerjee said.

The CM has looked to use this year’s summit to highlight the state as a business-friendly one and has announced the formation of a new state-level synergy committee to facilitate ease of doing business in the state.

“(The committee) will be chaired by the Chief Secretary. It will be a one-stop destination for all forms of clearance for doing business in Bengal,” Banerjee said.

Officials said that the BGBS 2025 focused on sectors like micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), textiles, engineering, energy, transport and urban infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, tourism and international trade and logistics.

Opposition parties, however, have raised questions about the summit, with Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari saying that while investment proposals have been talked about for decades, very little has been seen on the ground.

“In reality, BGBS is a glossy facade. The real meaning of BGBS isn’t Bengal Global Business Summit, it is Businesses’ Graveyard in a Bankrupt State,” Adhikari said in a post on X.