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West Bengal, which boasts of surplus power and adequate water supply, has been able to woo a large number of MSMEs (medium and small enterprises), particularly from the textiles, leather, foundry, and gem and jewellery sectors.
The pandemic-induced slowdown notwithstanding, the MSME sector in the State has witnessed good growth on the back of a favourable support in the form of assured buyback by the state government.
According to Rajiva Sinha, Chairman, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), there are close to 89 lakh MSME units in the State, and around 1.36 crore people are employed in the sector.
“West Bengal is at the top in terms of MSME lending in the country. We have an all-encompassing policy called Banglashree which is for entities where investments do not exceed ₹50 crore. We try to give them a buyback guarantee for products they manufacture, which in turn is utilised for various State government programmes,“ Sinha told BusinessLine.
“For example, we can purchase up to 50 per cent of our annual requirement for uniforms from any entity putting up a power loom in the State and procure bicycles manufactured by MSMEs for our Sabuj Sathi programme,” he added.
MSMEs account for nearly 45 per cent of the total estimated credit potential of ₹2.47-lakh crore in the State for the year 2022-23 under the priority sector.
Access to port and power
West Bengal’s proximity to the port, access to cheap and surplus power, and adequate water supply have been attracting industry and the State has received investment proposals to the tune of ₹3.42-lakh crore during the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit this year.
As many as 137 MoUs, Letters of Intent (LoI), and Expressions of Interest (EoI) were generated at the business summit. These have a total employment potential of 40 lakhs. It has also received investment proposals to the tune of ₹12.5-lakh crore from the previous business summits. Nearly 20-25 per cent of these have started translating into actual investments, Sinha said.
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