The Hindu Business Line : WBFC plans to set up bio-diesel hub in western zone

A bio-diesel hub in the western part of the State will minimise the cost of transporting the jatropha from across the State’s border while ensuring value-addition to the bio-diesel raw material in the arid zone there.

Ambar Singh Roy

Kolkata, Aug. 7 The West Bengal Financial Corporation (WBFC), an autonomous body under the regulatory control of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), is working with entrepreneurs in the state to set up a bio-diesel hub in the western zone of West Bengal. Besides, the corporation is also facilitating the setting up of small and medium enterprises in sectors where West Bengal has traditional and natural advantages, such as agro-based businesses and floriculture, according to Mr Kamal Chakrabarty, Managing Director of WBFC.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Chakrabarty said Rs 145.37 crore was disbursed in 2007-08, against Rs 135.25 crore in 2006-07. Recoveries, too, went up from Rs 128.49 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 157.27 crore in 2007-08. The sanctions, disbursements and recovery targets for 2008-09 have been pegged at Rs 215 crore, Rs 170 crore and Rs 161 crore, respectively.

Jatropha cultivation

According to Mr Chakrabarty, jatropha is widely cultivated across the western border of West Bengal in Jharkhand and Orissa. A bio-diesel hub in the western part of the State will minimise the cost of transporting the jatropha from across the State’s border while ensuring value-addition to the bio-diesel raw material in the arid zone there. Besides, it would create employment, as would floriculture hubs elsewhere in the State.

In the agro-sector, the corporation is facilitating the setting up of rice mills, oil mills to process rice bran oil and multi-purpose cold storage chains for storing fruits and vegetables, a substantial amount of which is currently wasted owing to lack of adequate storage facilities. For example, in the last potato season, West Bengal produced 88 lakh tonnes of potatoes. The total storage and consumption capacity in the State is barely 32 lakh tonnes. “More cold storage facilities will not only help contain this wastage, it will also help farmers fetch remunerative prices for their produce, as they do not have to resort to distress sales,” Mr Chakrabarty said.

WBFC has reduced its non-performing assets from 14 per cent as on March 31, 2007 to nine per cent as on March 31, 2008. It has targeted to bring this down to five per cent by March 31, 2009, Mr Chakrabarty said.

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