India Inc says Tata backout bad for WB

Rallying behind the Tata group, India Inc has expressed concern that Tata Motors...

Rallying behind the Tata group, India Inc has expressed concern that Tata Motors’ withdrawal from the Singur project would irreversibly hamper the industrialisation in West Bengal.

“Industrialisation is critical for the development of social infrastructure as also rural development. The development of the state and the country cannot suffer due to any political differences. Peace, law and order and stability are all pre-requisites for Industrial Investments which would take the state’s economy ahead,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.

“This will create problems for the state not only in the present but also for future in attracting investment,” Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra said. He said many alternative sites were offered “on a platter” elsewhere in the country for locating the small car project. But the Tatas decided on Singur because they were “committed to bring investment into a state which had attracted little investor attention”.

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Assocham president Sajjan Jindal, whose JSW group has also lined up big-time investment in the state, said if the Tatas left it would take West Bengal “back to the 1970s when the state witnessed large exodus of industry”.

Chairman of Ambuja Realty Harsh Neotia said, “If they pull out, the state would suffer a blow in terms of perception. Future investment flows would be hit,” he said.