Bengal Global Business Summit: This meet is more than just a ritual, says Mukesh Ambani

“My own experience says that Bengal is ready for industry and the state now ranks high on the list in terms of ease of doing business. Reliance Industries had invested Rs 5,000 crore in the past couple of years in creating the next generation of digital broadband gateway… it has connected a large number of towns, cities and rural areas in Bengal,” he added.

Y C Deveshwar of ITC Group said his company was headquartered in Kolkata for over 100 years. “We were either too slow to move out or we believed that things should happen in Bengal,” Deveshwar said while justifying the company’s continuing presence in Bengal and its investments. He too said there has been a remarkable transformation in the state under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. “ITC is investing around Rs 4,000 crore in hotel, agro and consumer goods business,” said Deveshwar.

R Bharti Mittal of Bharti Group, while promising investments, said: “In 2013, when I had come to a similar meet, I found infrastructure here was crumbling. But giant strides have been taken and today, I am in favour of West Bengal.” He added that Airtel and Bharti Group are investing around Rs 9,000 crore in the state and plan to invest another Rs 3,500 crore in the next three years.

Subhash Chandra of Essel Group and Zee Bangla promised an investment of around Rs 4,000 crore in the next two years. The biggest investment proposal, however, came from the owner of TCG Group, Dr Purnendu Chatterjee, who has now taken over Haldia Petrochemicals. He plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in a greenfield refinery.