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Ela Dutt
New York, July 9: West Bengal could well become the commercial hub of the eastern region, according to the United States-India Business Council (USIBC) before which the state's industrial development corporation made a strong pitch for investment.
"We wanted to hear what progress had come in refining the vision articulated at the December 1997 Investment Summit in Calcutta," Michael Clark, executive director of USIBC, told India Abroad News Service. "We got something of a refinement of that" during the USIBC luncheon meeting in Washington addressed by Somnath Chatterjee, chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, he added.
Clark said the aspect that stands out is the potential for West Bengal to be a "commercial hub of an emerging economic space" which includes one billion people inhabiting 11 surrounding states in India as well as Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and south-east Asia.
"The big news of the day was how IT (information technology) had emerged as a big investment sector notjust in software development but also IT-enabled industry such as video animation, satellite photo interpretation, financial services," Clark said. He also noted that there had been a certain amount of industrial development in agriculture, port development and other sectors.
Chatterjee had told the USIBC that between 1991 and 1998, 1,843 industrial projects involving investments of more than $11 billion had been approved by West Bengal and 302 of them, accounting for $1.8 billion, had been implemented and begun production. Some 80 projects worth $2.4 billion were already under construction.
The growth rate of industrial production in the state, based only on actual implementation of projects, increased from 4.3 per cent in 1993-94 to almost 9.2 per cent in 1996-97, higher than the all-India rate, Chatterjee said. Some of the major projects he highlighted included Haldia Petrochemicals with an investment of $1.3 billion, jointly promoted by the state, the Soros Chatterjee Group and the Tata Group; the PTAplant promoted by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation; the South Asian Petrochem Ltd.
Project promoted by Dhunseri Group of Calcutta, a 100 per cent export-oriented bottle grade PET resin project at Haldia; as well as several IT projects. there are attractive returns," Chatterjee emphasised, and that was why a "major process of introspection" was on to ensure that investors can utilise the advantages through promoting an investor-friendly environment and streamlining procedures.
Clark said his expectations of US business presence at the luncheon had been low, but "I was pleased that a largish audience came -- a decent representation of 10 corporate majors and a large number of small and medium-sized businesses." According to him, "What was impressive was the sense of direction and that there has been a cumulative process. And while the pace has not been exciting, which is tied to many factors beyond their control, we can begin to see pieces of the vision come together." He noted that multilateralorganisations like the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank were supporting the vision and that presented an opportunity for the US to be involved in feasibility studies and technical support. "We are pleased to see elements of the grand design begin to emerge, and being endorsed, and we hope American companies will have a role to play," he said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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