West Bengal could be the Bharatiya Janata Party's real test case of its business-friendly policies, points out Kanika Datta.
'We have a very demanding electorate which expects us to do something. So we will have to do something which is a bit out of the ordinary while at the same time keeping in mind the risk factors.'
TMC leader Derek O'Brien highlights the Tata Group's presence and expansion in West Bengal, countering BJP claims about bringing Tata back to the state. Investments and expansions span IT, manufacturing, hospitality, and retail sectors.
Accompanied by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation managing director Subrata Gupta and local Trinamool MLA and school education minister Rabindranath Bhattacharjee, Bengal industry minister inspected the entire site and held a meeting with WBIDC officials at a camp office located within the premises.
Five months after Tata Motors shifted its Nano plant to Gujarat, another Tata company has decided to move a project out of West Bengal. Tata Metaliks has scrapped its 500,000-tonne billet project, proposed to be built with an investment of Rs 700-800 crore
India's largest private port operator Adani Ports and SEZ (APSEZ) Ltd has emerged as the highest bidder for the West Bengal government's greenfield deep-sea port project at Tajpur in a neck-to-neck fight with JSW Group, a source said on Friday. APSEZ and Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group were the only two entities that took part in the financial bid round, though there were more port and logistics majors who had expressed initial interest in the estimated Rs 7,000-crore project in Purba Medinipur district. "APSEZ is the highest bidder, offering a share of 0.25 per cent of gross revenue. "It was marginally higher than the second bidder who offered 0.23 per cent," a senior government official said, without wanting to be named.
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has expressed the state government's desire for the Tata Group to return to Singur, viewing it as an economic necessity and a signal that West Bengal is open for business. The move aims to reverse the negative perception created when the Nano project was forced out of the state.
A BJP government in Bengal inherits more problems than it might care to admit at its moment of triumph, points out Ramesh Menon
The electorate did not vote for the BJP as much as they voted against the TMC. This is an important distinction that the new government will ignore at its own peril, points out Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).
BJP leader V Muraleedharan dismisses claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would strike a deal with the Congress to target the CPI(M), stating Modi has 'better things to do'. He also questioned Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's concern over ED raids if he has done nothing wrong.
Despite a population of 1.45 billion, India's football team is ranked a lowly 138th in the world and failed to qualify for next year's Asian Cup, highlighting deep-rooted systemic issues and a failure to implement reforms that keep the World Cup dream distant for fans.
C M Bachhawat, who has served as finance secretary in the Trinamool government earlier, will take over as the industry secretary from Alapan Bandopadhyay. Bachhawat will also be given additional responsibility as executive director of WBIDC.
The West Bengal government said it was ready to provide all kinds of support for development of the IT industry.
In an important step towards setting up of Tata Motors' small car project at Singur, the West Bengal government signed the land lease agreement with the auto major on Friday.
Less than five months after Tata Motors relocated its Nano project from West Bengal to Gujarat over land issues, another Tata group company, Tata Metaliks, is reviewing its expansion project in the state on similar grounds.
'When I asked Suvendu about the news that Didi was going to fight in his constituency, he said, 'Aami okhaney lorbo aar okhaney okey harabo (I will contest from there and defeat her there)' This was his comment while we were standing on the truck doing our roadshow.'
The decision was reached after political consensus; sellers offered land-for-land deal.
Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen told PTI the Land and Land Reforms department had already acquired 1,000 acres and has ordered WBIDC to take possession of it.
The West Bengal government has handed over the first tranche of 533 acres to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) for setting up a new airport city project. This is to come up in the Durgapur-Asansol region, of Bardhaman district, at an estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion).
Then chief minister Jyoti Basu once told an industrialist that capitalists were class enemies and he should expect no sympathy.
Arcil acquires non-performing loans from banks and financial institutions along with the underlying securities mortgaged or hypothecated by borrowers to the lenders.
The words 'industry', 'industrial development', 'jobs', and 'employment' have been ringing with higher frequency since Mamata Banerjee stepped into her third term with landslide victory after a high-octane election last year. "Our government's next target is industrial development," the chief minister (CM) had been heard stating at different public meetings in the past few months - perhaps setting the tone for the sixth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) slated for later this month. Investor summits by any state are about intent, big numbers, and tall claims. Yet in competitive federalism, its importance as a marketing tool is undeniable.
In a major victory for Tatas, an arbitral tribunal has awarded Tata Motors a compensation of over Rs 766 crore for the losses incurred because of protests by Trinamool Congress that stalled its small car project at Singur in West Bengal. The tribunal asked the West Bengal government to pay Tata Motors the compensation, along with interest, according to a stock exchange filing by the Mumbai-based auto major on Monday. The company stated that the arbitral tribunal has asked the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) to pay the company Rs 766 crore compensation, in connection with losses incurred on its manufacturing site in Singur.
The Videocon group, which signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the West Bengal government for a Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) steel and power project last month, has directly negotiated with land losers near Asansol for 2,000 acres.
Kerala's voters are sophisticated, educated, and unforgiving. They have once again made it clear that no government is entitled to remain in power. The Congress would do well to remember this, points out Ramesh Menon.
After deciding to withdraw the Nano project from Singur in West Bengal in October last year, Tata Motors has sought 10 months time from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation to remove the equipment.
West Bengal, which has seen many violent protests against land acquisition in the country, is now set to get another exemplary rehabilitation package for land-losers. After the free shares by JSW Bengal Steel, now Bhushan Steel is going one step ahead to give free land to land-losers as a part of its rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package. Sources said the R&R package has been submitted to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur on Thursday signed a memorandum of association to develop the state's first biotechnology park at Kharagpur.
Making a submission in the court of Justice Saumitra Pal, Tata counsel Samaraditya Pal said that 997.11 acre leased to Tatas (lessee) by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (lessor) was not kept idle from the time of execution of the lease deed to the exit from the site by the company.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
RusPromAvto, Russia's automobile corporation, is to begin assembly of heavy-duty cross-country 'Ural' trucks in India from next month.
According to the lease agreement between Tata Motors and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, the lessor will have the option to terminate the lease if the land has not been used for three years or more, which will kick-in from October 2011. Tata Motors had pulled out of the Nano project in October 2008.
Leading vendors of the Tata Motors' Nano project intend to set the ball rolling to return their land in the ancillary park area at Singur and said they aim to begin talks with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation on the issue immediately.
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Three PSUs, three private firms join bid to acquire 40% stake in Haldia Petrochem.
West Bengal government, through its arm West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, had decided to offload its shares (which included the controversial 155 million shares) following which IOC emerged as the sole valid bidder.
Satyam Computer Services Limited on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited for setting up its development centre in Kolkata.
HPL management's control will go to the promoter who gets access to the 155 million shares block.
Webel's digital tool enables people with cerebral palsy to communicate.
After the Trinamool's overwhelming majority in the West Bengal assembly elections last year, the SSC scam has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports.
