The West Bengal Government's second edition of its annual industry and trade fair called Bengal Leads will begin today at Haldia, situated nearly 150-km from Kolkata.
The Trinamool Congress-led government hopes to attract big-ticket investments and present an investor-friendly image at the three-day-long event.
The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, will inaugurate the investor meet, at which the State's new industrial policy is expected to be announced.
The Commerce and Industries Minister, Partha Chatterjee, is also expected to hand over lease deeds to the 12 companies that got permission last week to set up industrial units across industrial parks in the state.
While the names of these companies have not been announced, sources at Writers' Buildings said that carmaker Maruti and fertiliser company Matix are among those likely to get their land lease deeds.
Likely dampener
Despite the brouhaha, industry observers claim that the event is unlikely to generate substantial interest.
One point raised is that high levels of pollution in the industrial township of Haldia has already led to a central ban on new industries in the region. This apart, overall, the industry is still hesitant about the hands-off land acquisition policy of the West Bengal government.
Even concerns over obtaining clearances for land acquired over the specified ceiling limits raised time and again by different industry bodies have not been addressed, lobbyist groups and industry captains.
While the Government had sent invites to several leading business houses and industry captains, including the Tata Group, to attend the summit, Chatterjee, however, could not confirm names of probable big investors, who would be present at Haldia.
Instead, the minister could only say there would be "some surprises" at the summit.
Industry lobbyists, however, pointed out that merely sending invites to industry honchos was not enough, and what was required was proper and effective networking.