West Bengal has the highest number of MSMEs in the country with 52,69,814 units, a development which will boost the state during the Bengal Global Business Summit that started today. Bengal accounted for 11.62 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises, the most among the top 10 states of the country, a senior state MSME official told PTI .

The eastern state left behind highly industrial regions like Maharashtra and Gujarat in the race, a data in the 2016-17 MSME ministry annual report showed. “This is a reflection on what the state is doing toward creating businesses, entrepreneurs and job in the state. Growth of MSMEs offer huge scope for large scale industries,” MSME Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.

Uttar Pradesh ranked second after West Bengal, followed by Maharastra. Gujarat stood eighth with 4.89 per cent of the MSME share, it said. The top 10 states make for 70 per cent of the estimated 4.53 crore MSME units in the country.

In 2017, West Bengal also recorded the biggest bank credit flow to the MSME sector in the last five years at USD 15 billion, the report said. The sector is significant as it contributes nearly 6 per cent to the GDP, 33 per cent to manufacturing and 45 per cent to exports, according to government data.

West Bengal currently tops the list of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2017, comprising all states and Union Territories. Reliance Industries’ chairman Mukesh Ambani, ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal, JSW Group’s Chief Sajjan Jindal, FMCG major ITC’s CEO Sanjiv Puri, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group’s chairman Sanjiv Goenka and others are expected to attend this year’s Bengal Global Business Summit.

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