New Delhi, March 5 (FN Agency) The narrative of perception is very important and the perception of the state needs to turn to be a safe investment ecosystem backed by a strong three-term political mandate, opined West Bengal Minister Dr Shashi Panja. Addressing a Conference on “West Bengal: Poised to Lead”, organised by CII on the occasion of West Bengal State Annual Day, here on Saturday, Dr Panja, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Industry Commerce and Enterprises & Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, reiterated that the story of economy weaves around political narratives and therefore the concept of “cooperative federalism” becomes vital in such circumstances though it just tends to take a backseat due to differing political ideologies.
She said that inspite of the pandemic, the state’s tax revenue collections increased to Rs 48,000 crores in FY 2022 with a 20pc growth and also a simultaneous 30pc and 89pc growth in CGST and electricity duty collection respectively. The Minister focussed on social development, building of social infrastructure and social inclusion and the state is “global and welcoming” though the “bird’s eye” for the Chief Minister of West Bengal has always been industrial growth. Dr H K Dwivedi, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, addressing the conference as the Guest of Honour, said the “legacy of perception of the state has a history of more than four decades” with significant “flights of capital and industry” and this perception will take a long time to change. Though there are numerous champions of the state in terms of investors, the perception is perpetrated by those who do not invest here, he added. Dr Dwivedi further said that in May 2011, the treasury closed for 9 months before the Assembly elections with less than Rs 1000 crores capital expenditure (CAPEX) which was actually Rs 3000 crores less than Bihar.
The CAPEX to GSDP ratio in 2011 was less than 0.7pc, the Chief Secretary said adding pensions, salaries were delayed due to low CAPEX. Now, in the financial year 2022-23, the CAPEX to GSDP ratio is more than 2pc but below the national average of 3pc and the state revenue earnings now stand at INR 90,000 crores which were earlier Rs 30,000 crores, he said. Dr Dwivedi spoke at length also about the increased social expenditure of the government which is more than 45pc of the state budget and emphasized that the gross debt of a state is not a parameter but the GSDP volume which actually decides how the state is servicing the debt. He said that in 2011 the debt to GSDP ratio was greater than 45p and in 2023 now the ratio is 32pc and now the GSDP has increased to Rs 90,000 crores which in 2011 was the lowest in India which indicates a significant increase in CAPEX. The state, he said, is channelling resources to create infrastructure and other than MSMEs which are largest in India at 90,00,000 units with targeted credit growth of Rs 1,10,000 in 2023-24, one of the focus spaces is agriculture and allied products which has a huge potential.
The Chief Secretary went on to say that policies and value chains for this vertical are being created and food procurement is now more than 55 lakh metric tonnes with the state exporting rice and contributing to the Food Corporation of India. The storage capacity of the state which was 70,000 tonnes in 2011 is now at 15 lakh metric tonnes. Admitting that West Bengal is a land-scarce state, Dr Dwivedi said that there are plans for 100 industrial parks across the state and the Scheme for Approved Industrial Park (SAIP) has been selected as one of the best schemes in the country at the Chief Secretaries’ Meet recently. He spoke about plans to identify and develop industrial corridors to attract more industries and also said that the six-laning of Kolkata – Asansol highway is underway as well as a new highway connect between Kolkata – Varanasi and Tajpur – Kharagpur- Raghunathpur.