Despite grand summits and tall proclamations by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, industry continues to elude West Bengal.
Every year, the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) unfurls in Kolkata with all the pomp and circumstance of a royal durbar. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, flanked by industrial titans and foreign dignitaries, unfailingly touts West Bengal as India’s next big industrial hub. This year’s iteration was no different. Announcements reverberated across the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre - coal extraction from the mammoth Deucha Pachami block, investments in AI centers and commitments to vast infrastructural projects. Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani, in a display of rhetorical flourish, declared Bengal to be in the throes of an economic renaissance, bolstered by his commitment to double the conglomerate’s investment to a staggering Rs. 1 lakh crore by 2030.
Yet, as the glittering rhetoric fades, the realities of West Bengal’s industrial landscape remain stubbornly unchanged.
Under Ms. Banerjee’s stewardship, has hosted eight editions of the BGBS, promising a transformation of the state’s economic fortunes. But a closer look at the state’s economic record reveals a starker picture.
The Deucha Pachami coal block, located in Birbhum district, is projected to generate over one lakh jobs and sustain the region’s energy needs for a century. However, such grand proclamations are reminiscent of West Bengal’s historical inability to translate industrial promises into concrete outcomes. The legacy of Singur looms large - a symbol of the state’s fraught relationship with industrialization. Tata Motors’ ignominious exit in 2008, following prolonged protests, exemplified the hostile environment that continues to deter large-scale investments.
The scars of Singur are emblematic of Bengal’s broader industrial malaise - a state caught between lofty aspirations and a profound anti-industry culture, nurtured by decades of Leftist governance.
The state’s track record remains blemished by its notorious anti-industry culture. Despite Banerjee’s claims of a “strike-free environment” and improved ease of doing business, West Bengal has struggled to shed its image as a graveyard for industry. Industrialists may attend summits and extol the virtues of the state’s leadership, but real investments are scarce, and transformative projects remain elusive.
Take the much-touted Deucha Pachami project itself. Though land has purportedly been acquired and the government has expressed gratitude to local and tribal communities, concerns about displacement and ecological impact persist. The promises of ancillary industries and job creation echo similar commitments made in the past, which failed to materialize meaningfully.
Even the presence of global business leaders like Mukesh Ambani and Sajjan Jindal at the BGBS must be viewed with caution. Their investments, though significant on paper, have not led to a broader industrial renaissance in Bengal. Reliance’s investment, while expansive in retail and telecommunications, does not represent a manufacturing or heavy industry boom that the state so desperately needs.
In the realm of economic metrics, the state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth is touted as a success, but it falls short of fostering sustainable industrial growth. Infrastructure projects, such as the proposed upgrade of Durgapur Airport into a second air hub, are necessary yet insufficient to draw in manufacturing giants.
The broader economic landscape in West Bengal remains constrained by structural issues. A persistent lack of skilled labour, coupled with bureaucratic red tape and unpredictable regulatory changes, continues to stifle industrial ambitions. Mamata Banerjee’s attempts to recast West Bengal as an industrial powerhouse, therefore, ring hollow. While the Bengal Global Business Summit provides a stage for grandiose announcements, the state remains trapped in its anti-industry legacy. Without substantive reforms and a shift in the socio-political fabric that has long resisted industrialization, West Bengal’s industrial revival will remain a mirage - visible from afar but unattainable upon approach. No amount of summitry or strategic announcements can substitute for genuine structural reform. If West Bengal is to break free from its industrial stagnation, it requires more than high-profile endorsements and lofty promises. It demands a fundamental rethinking of what it means to be an industry-friendly state.
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