Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit had attracted a whopping Rs 3.42 lakh crore investment proposals from the visiting industrialists.
“It makes me extremely happy to announce that we have received investment proposals worth Rs 3,42,375 crores during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022, a visibly happy Chief Minister said, adding the business proposals were expected to generate around 40 lakh jobs.
“The BGBS was a remarkable success,” she said insisting a task force would soon be set up under the chief secretary for speedy implementation of these projects.
If materialized the investments were likely to generate as much as 40 lakh jobs, the Chief Minister claimed.
Banerjee also said that about “37 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and letters of intent (LoIs) were signed in these two days,” adding around 4,300 participants from 42 countries, “including more than 500 international delegates, attended the summit.”
Among the noticeable proposals were the one made by Adani Group chief Gautam Adani who announced an investment plan of Rs 10,000 crore in the coming ten years. The JSW Group too announced investment in a 900 MW pumped storage hydel power project. A strong delegation from the United Kingdom and Bangladesh also expressed interest in investing in Bengal, sources said.
Earlier Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi who was leading a 10-member delegation said that his country too was interested in investing in Bengal. Praising the Chief Minister for her remarkable abilities the minister said that the summit would go a distance in promoting India-Bangladesh border trade.
This was the sixth BGBS organized by the TMC Government to promote investment. In the past five summits the State had attracted investment proposal of Rs 12 lakh crore.
Banerjee’s claims notwithstanding questioning the ability of the State Government to convert MoUs and LoUs into actual investment BJP national vice president said “before bragging about the investment proposals of Rs 3 lakh crore the Chief Minister should first make clear that how much of Rs 12 lakh crore proposed in the past five summits have been converted into real investment … the answer is in fact zero.”
CPI(M) central committee member said that the “party that has driven away the Tatas from Singur and chemical hub at Nandigram will never be trusted by investors … particularly when the State is overwhelmed by syndicates and TMC’s extortionists.” On Adani’s investment proposal he said “this is the same Adani who is the best friend of Narendra Modi with Mamata Banerjee feigns a fight.”