AS SHE seeks to recast her government’s image as pro-industry, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could not have chosen a more striking photo-op than her meeting with Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
The July 9 rendezvous, its photos widely shared, was the first such high-level meeting between Banerjee and a Tata executive since she led the Trinamool Congress agitation that drove the Tata Nano project out of Bengal in 2010, and rode the momentum to power.
The focus on industry, and by extension jobs, reflects the political reality on the ground, with the BJP with its “double-engine growth” narrative snapping at the heels of Banerjee’s bid for a fourth consecutive term in power.
Since Banerjee’s meeting with Chandrasekaran, the Trinamool Congress government has announced a ‘Business and Industry Conclave’ later this year, while another Bengal Global Business Summit (after the one held in February this year) may be on the cards before the 2026 Assembly elections.
The meeting
Banerjee’s meeting with Chandrasekaran, which lasted 45 minutes, was followed by messages by the TMC that underlined the distance the CM had travelled from the massive land acquisition agitation she led, while in the Opposition, against the Nano project.
The party said the dialogue between Banerjee and the Tata Chairman was centred on West Bengal’s growth. “They talked about deepening the Tata Group’s presence in the state, underscoring Bengal’s emergence as a preferred destination for forward-looking industry leaders,” the TMC said.
As per government sources, the overture to the Tatas had been in the making for several months. The CM first invited Chandrasekaran for the February Bengal Business Global Summit. While he could not make it, the two had an encouraging discussion on the eve of the summit.
Later, at the summit’s inaugural ceremony, Banerjee mentioned her conversation with Chandrasekaran. “He assured us that they want to invest more and more in Bengal. And he will come to Bengal very soon and discuss (things in detail).”
Currently the Tatas’ presence in West Bengal is largely via Tata Consultancy Services, which has more than 54,000 employees across the state and is planning a 20-acre campus in the Bengal Silicon Valley Hub, located in New Town. The Tata Group also has investments in the hotel sector in the state.
To a lesser degree, Tata Steel has a diversified presence with more than 11,100 employees, while Tata Hitachi has a plant in Kharagpur.
Most of these plants date back to the Left time, with some expansions seen under the TMC regime.
The plans
Amit Mitra, the Chief Financial Adviser to the CM, announced last week plans for a ‘Business and Industry Conclave’ in the state after Durga Puja. “The State-Level Investment and Synergy Committee has been tasked with preparing a roadmap for the conclave,” Mitra, also the former state finance minister, said.
The state government had announced the formation of this Committee ahead of the Global Business Summit “in order to facilitate industrial growth and enhance the ease of doing business in the state”. The committee is headed by the Chief Secretary, with units planned in each district.
The Bengal government has identified several revenue- and job-generating sectors for its industrialisation push, said Mitra. These include steel, gems and jewellery, Information Technology and related fields, food-related businesses, tourism, textiles and apparel, leather, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
A new pressure point for the TMC government are incidents of rounding up of Bengali migrants across the country as the Centre widens its crackdown against “illegal” immigrants. The BJP has linked it to the Banerjee government’s failure to check the exodus outside the state for work.
The turnaround
The change in the messaging of the ruling TMC is stark. It came to power in 2011 riding on not just the Tata Nato agitation but also the anti-land acquisition protest against a pharmaceutical hub in Nandigram. The party’s politics was encapsulated by the slogan ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’, first raised during the Singur movement, signifying its commitment to the disadvantaged and minorities above all.
In March this year, the Banerjee government passed the Revocation of West Bengal Incentive Schemes and Obligations in the Nature of Grants And Incentives Act, which took away all incentives granted to industries since 1993, with retrospective effect.
The legislation said, “The object of this Act is to make state finances available for various social welfare schemes formulated and under operation in the state of West Bengal… and not to expend such finances to provide special assistance, financial incentives, state support, benefits, concessions or special privileges at the cost of the marginalised.”
An official said the incentives were revoked as the state government “was going to introduce a new industrial policy”. Sources said the policy was in the drafting stage.
An industrialist said they are hoping that this new policy is unveiled soon, and that it smoothens the process of getting licences. “We basically want a one-window system. The administration should also take strong steps against extortion and local hooliganism.”
However, some like cement maker Nuvoco Vistas Corporation are not impressed. Last month, it informed the stock exchange that its wholly owned subsidiary NU Vista had filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Act. Nuvoco said incentives of Rs 2,427.14 crore and Rs 2,300.44 crore to be received by Nuvoco and NU Vista were likely to be impacted because of the Act.
The Opposition
During a recent visit to West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah noted the “poor state” of industry in the state, saying: “At the time of Independence, Bengal’s share in India’s industrial production stood at 30%… Today, it is down to a mere 3.5%… In 1960, Bengal’s per capita income was 105% of Maharashtra. Now, it’s not even half… I want to ask Mamata Didi and the Communists (the Left was in power for 34 years, before being unseated by the TMC), who is responsible for this?” Shah also criticised the Congress, which ruled the state for a long time.
The BJP later posted on X: “Under Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal is sinking economically: GSDP growth is below the national average (4.3%), per capita income is 20% lower than the national average, GDP share dropped from 6.8% in 1990-91 to 5.8% in 2021-22, female labour force participation is lower than the national average, the Gross Enrolment Ratios, at both Higher Secondary (2015-16) and Higher Education (2021) levels, are less than the national average. The state has a high fiscal deficit, a high debt-to-GDP ratio and a higher revenue deficit than the national average.”
Hitting back, Banerjee accused Shah of “speaking a garbage of lies”. “He claimed our state is zero in industry, but we are No. 1 in the MSME sector. He claimed we could not build roads, but we are No. 1 in that,” she said.
A recent working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) presented a mixed picture for West Bengal. While its share in India’s GDP nearly halved from 10.5% in 1960-61 to 5.6% in 2023-24, the state has brought down its fiscal deficit – from around 4.24% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) under the Left, to about 3.0 % by 2018-19. During the Covid pandemic, even as economic conditions were uniformly impacted, the Bengal government managed to not let the deficit balloon, and it stood at 3.26 % of the GSDP by the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
In her Budget speech this year, West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “West Bengal’s GSDP grew by 6.8% in 2024-25, outpacing India’s overall growth rate of 6.37%. The industrial sector registered a growth of 7.3%, significantly higher than India’s 6.2%, while agriculture and allied sectors grew by 4.2%, compared to India’s 3.8%. The services sector is also growing faster, at a rate of 7.8%, surpassing India’s 7.2%.”
About the Banerjee government’s industry push, CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, “Mamata Banerjee knows the people’s anger is increasing. Now, she is trying to rectify by invoking ‘Bengali’ sentiments and meeting the Tata Chairman. But, people won’t be mollified.”
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said, “Mamata Banerjee will not get a chance to do industrialisation. The people of Bengal gave her 15 long years for this and she failed… We have to create an industry-friendly, investment-friendly atmosphere. We have told the industrialists, please wait for a year.”.