Kolkata: In a significant achievement, the Bengal Global Business Summits (BGBS) conceptualised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has brought down the debt-GDP ratio of the state by 7.35 per cent in the last nine years.
It is likely to come down further following the outcomes and implementations of the next business summit which is scheduled to be held from December 15 to 17, 2020 in the state.
In 2010-11, the debt-GDP ratio was 40.65 percent, while in 2019-20 it came down to 33.3 per cent. The fiscal deficit has also been brought down by 1.61 per cent in the last nine years. In 2010-11, it was 4.24 percent and came down to 2.63 per cent.
For BGBS 2019, an investment worth nearly Rs 71,646 crore is under implementation in Bengal and the employment is already beign generated through these investments is to the tune of 28 lakh.
The state GDP has grown by 7.9 lakh crore from Rs 4.6 lakh crore in 2010-11, and the tax collection of the state government has grown to Rs 44,578 crore from Rs 21,228 crore in 2010-11.
Not the least, the average annual income of our farmers has tripled from Rs 91,000 in 2011 to Rs 2.91 lakh in 2018.
“Farmers are the backbone of our society. In Bengal, the average annual income of our farmers has tripled from Rs 91,000 in 2011 to Rs 2.91 lakh in 2018. History stands testament to what we have done for their benefits. We will continue to raise our voices for them. Remembering former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary. 55 years ago, he gave us the inspirational slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ for our proud farmer brothers & sisters. Come what may, we will always firmly stand by them till our last breath,” Banerjee had tweeted.
Banerjee became the chief minister in 2011 and started focusing on the Bengal Global Business Summit from 2015 onwards. She travelled around the world to convince industrialists to invest in Bengal.
Sources in the TMC told News18 that Banerjee has been desperate to bring Bengal back on the global industrial map. But in the last one year, she has instructed her officials to expedite the process of ease of doing business in Bengal and recently she announced three big projects which were finalised in the meeting of ‘Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure-2020’.
Knowing that she came to power riding waves of anti-land acquisition movements in Singur against the Tata Nano plant, and in Nandigram against the Salem group’s chemical hub project – The TMC government has so far handled land acquisition carefully in Bengal.
Party leaders claimed that Mamata knew she was racing against time but she has left with no other options but to set a few examples to portray herself as ‘investor friendly Didi’ against BJP’s ‘Speed Breaker Didi’ jibe.
Recently, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has asked for a detailed report of BGBS from the Bengal government.
Responding to the Governor, excerpts of state Finance Minister Amit Mitra’s letter, reads, “We introduced the new concept of State to State partnership’ in the global arena. For example, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany which generates 22% of German GDP became the partner of West Bengal. As a result, our Chief Minister launched a German investment project of 960 crores funded by the renowned financial institution KFW for a MegaWatt Solar Power Plant in West Bengal, providing concrete shape to our Business Partnership with Germany. In the same manner, the Lombardy Regional Province of Italy, which represents more than 20 % of Italy’s GDP, the Jeollanamdo Province of Republic of Korea and the Upper Silesia Region of Poland, became the Partner States of West Bengal in this unique model of collaboration.”
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