The state has made it clear that the companies which avail of the government’s incentives while investing in the state will have to hire at least 50 per cent of their employees from among the local inhabitants.

On Thursday, when the state government issued new guidelines for promoting investment in the state, it added a new clause saying it would dole out incentives to those investors who will only employ people from the state.

Till last year, the state government used to give the Industrial Promotion Allowance (IPA) to investors only on the basis of the amount of capital they invested in the state.

But from now on, the government will dole out IPA on the basis of both investment and employment generation.

“While 50 per cent of the IPA will be given on the basis of investment, 50 per cent will be given on the basis of the number of people the entrepreneur employs. But these employees will have to be residents of West Bengal and they will have to produce their documents to prove it,” said Sabyasachi Sen, Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries.

Sensing that the new clause would invite criticisms, Sen added, “Of course, the industrialists can hire people from outside the state. We are against parochialism. But if you want to get government assistance, you will have to recruit people who are inhabitants of the state.”

The government has also categorised the investors on the amount of investment and the district which will benefit from it. While Kolkata has been put under category A, the districts surrounding it, namely Howrah, Nadia, Hooghly, have been put under category B. The districts beyond these places have been put under category C.