With West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee vowing to make the state ‘numero uno’ in industrial development in the country during the sixth Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) on Wednesday, captains of the Indian industry committed to make investments across port, data centre, undersea cable, logistics parks, energy, steel and FMCG in the state.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, who attended the summit for the first time, said his group will invest over Rs 10,000 crore over the next 10 years in West Bengal. This investment will help the state create employment opportunities for 25,000 people, he added.

“We are committing to bring technology and scale to create world class infrastructure, data centre, undersea cable, centre of excellence for digital innovation, warehousing and logistics park in West Bengal. Over next one decade, our total investment in the state will exceed Rs 10,000 crore,” Adani said at the inaugural session of the BGBS here.

“What I am committing to bring to Bengal is the best of the Adani Group, our expertise in infrastructure, our speed of execution, our experience, and our focus on building bigger and better,” he said, adding that Adani Wilmar will also invest to expand its business in the state.

JSW group chairman Sajjan Jindal said the group is looking at setting up a 900 MW pump storage hydel power project in the state and also a rolling shop for steel industry near Kolkata. Jindal, however, did not reveal the investment amounts.

The Hiranandani Group is looking to set up a data centre in Bengal. Besides, it is also looking to set up an industrial and logistics park across 100 acres of land. Niranjan Hiranandani, MD, Hiranandani Group, said the group is also looking at investing in natural gas infrastructure across five districts in the state.

ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri said the company will soon start building its 20th plant in the state. ITC now has 19 manufacturing units in the state, with nine producing ITC’s agri-based food processing brands such as Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, YiPPee!, Bingo! and others. “Over last few years, ITC has invested nearly Rs 4,500 crore in the state,” he said.

Tata Steel MD TV Narendran said the company is in the process of doubling its capacity in one of its plants in West Bengal at an investment of Rs 600 crore.
“Now, my destination is industry. We will be successful here. We want to make Bengal no. 1 in industry for generating huge employment. Whatever land is required for industry is available in the state,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at the event. “Not less than 1.5 crore of employment will be generated in the coming years,” Banerjee said.

The CM urged governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who inaugurated the summit, to ensure that industrialists are “not disturbed by some agencies”.

Mamata said investment proposals worth around Rs 12 lakh crore were received between 2015 and 2019 at BGBS and are under various stages of implementation. The last edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit was held in Digha in 2019.