Be it multinationals Microsoft or IBM, homegrown conglomerates Adani Group and ITC or an international joint venture like Tata-Hitachi, some of the big-ticket names from the corporate sector in India and abroad lined up, or expressed their interest, for doing business in West Bengal.
As the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit came to a close on Thursday, officials said the government formed seven sectoral committees on agriculture business and food processing, infrastructure, industry, services, tourism and hospitality, international trade, and mining and allied services with leading industrialists as co-chair for each sector.
Other big names at the summit were KfW, Gainwell Engineering, LOGOS, Wacker Metroark Chemicals (WMC), Big Dutchman, International GmbH and Meyn.
ITC head Sanjiv Puri said, “In the agriculture sector, 95 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed at a proposed investment of Rs 3,000 crore.”
Harshabardhan Neotia, another industrialist, said 42 MOUs were signed in the service sector which will bring in Rs 20,000 crore investment to the state.
A total of 137 MOUs. letters of intent (LoIs) and expressions of interest (EoIs) at a proposed investment of Rs 3.42 lakh crore were signed through collaboration between the state government departments, chambers of commerce.
In the healthcare sector, Apollo proposed a new unit at Batanagar at Rs 1,000 crore. GIS will also invest Rs 1,000 crore and Belview Clinic Rs 400 crore in the sector. Narayana Hospitals also assured to built 1,000-bed hospitals in the state.
A senior health official said, “Sooon, Narayana will send us the details of their investment proposals.”
Besides, the state government on Thursday revamped Silpa Sathi, a single-window online portal to provide statutory clearances for new and running businesses in the state. The government also inaugurated the Export Facilitation, a one-stop portal to provide information on market opportunities, prevailing tariffs, export potential of products, and certification agencies for international exports.
An online portal for exhibitions was launched to provide a cost-effective platform for sellers or exporters to register their products free of cost with individual product features, including photos, videos, price, and availability, etc.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated Nijaswini that will serve as an umbrella portal wherein different self-help groups (SHGs) are promoted and with the help of various departments and can be reviewed for effectiveness and output.
This year’s summit had 14 partner countries — Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom.
Ambassadors from Italy, Malaysia, Kenya, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Fiji, Australia, Japan, Poland, Finland, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan joined the summit.
Chambers of commerce and international institutions like JETRO, JICA, KOTRA, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FBCCI), Bhutan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Germany Trade and Invest, IGCC, VDMA, Italian Trade Agency, ASSOMAC, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce, SACE (Italian Export Credit Agency), Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Innovation Norway, RUSSOFT, British Council, Confederation of British Industries and the United States Patent and Trademark Office participated in the summit.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with her special economic advisor Amit Mitra on the closing day of the Bengal business summit on Thursday. Partha Paul 
Share
