September 5, 2014
Bengal`s first Business Synergy Centre to be inaugurated on September 11
West Bengal Government has decided to forma Steering Committee for industry which will be chaired by the Chief Secretaryof the State and co-chaired by industrialist Sanjeev Goenka. This uniqueinitiative was decided upon in a meeting of the Chief Minister with adelegation of industrialists at Nabanna.
The formation of the committee wasannounced in a press conference at Nabanna addressed jointly by Ministry forfinance, IT, Industry and Commerce, Dr Amit Mitra and Chairman of RPGEnterprises, Shri Sanjeev Goenka.
BusinessSynergy Centre
The Chief Minister will inaugurate aBusiness Synergy Centre on September 11, 2014, with the purpose of promotingBengal as an investment destination. This is the outcome of the visit toSingapore and the first Synergy centre will be between Bengal and Singapore. TheSynergy Centre will operate from WBIDC.
“No where in India would you find govt andindustry working together,” said Dr Mitra. Mr Goenka said that to hisknowledge, this was the first time any State or Central Government had formed apanel with representatives from both the government and the industry.
Follow-upon Singapore success
After her successful business trip toSingapore, the Chief Minister had called a follow-up meeting in the last weekof August where ideas were exchanged to take the projects inked at Singapore forward.It was also decided to crystallize those meetings later in September. Today'smeeting was held on account of that.
Sectortalcommittees
Apart from the Steering Committee, severalsectoral committees were also announced. Each sectoral group has the concerned secretary, and a nominee ofindustry who will co chair. The idea isto have the recommendatory role towards policy making, towards making Bengal abetter investment destination, towards making Bengal a more pleasant experienceto invest in.
The sectoral committeesare as follows:
|
Committee |
Chairman |
Co-Chairman |
|
Urban Infrastructure and Housing |
Mr Debasish Sen, Mr Alapon Bondyopadhyay (Vice Chairman) |
Mr Harsh Vardhan Patodia |
|
IT Software and Hardware |
Satish Sankar Tiwari |
Mr Ashok Mukherjee, Sonodyne |
|
Food Processing |
Mr Sukla, Principal Sec. of Food Processing |
Mr Kurush Grant, ITC |
|
MSME and Textile |
Mr Rajib Sinha, Principal Sec. of MSME &Textile |
Mr Rajkumar Chajan, President of Calcutta Chember of Commerce |
|
Healthcare and Education |
Mr Moloy De, Principle Sec. of Health |
Mr Pravash Rura, Belle Vue Clinic |
|
Manufacturing |
Mr Bachawat, Additional Chief Sec. of Commerce & Industry |
Mr Sumit Majumder, Tractors India |
|
Energy and Infrastructure |
Mr Gopal Krishna, Additional Chief Sec. of Power |
Mr YK Modi for Energy and Mr Karan Paul for Infrastructure |
|
Tourism and Hospitality |
Mr Bardhan, Principal Sec. of Tourism |
Mr Harsh Neotia, Ambuja Neotia Group |
GlobalInvestors' Summit
The WB Government will also organise aglobal summit of investors in Kolkata on 7-8 January, 2015. It will have peoplewho have invested in Bengal share their experience; it will have a sessionspecially for non-resident Bengalis. It will also have a session for GlobalCEOs who will come and speak. All of these will be followed by a response bythe Hon'ble Chief Minister. She willhear everyone over 3-4 hours and at that spot respond.
Second day there is going to be a sessionof MSMEs. There is going to be eightbreak away round table on different sectors and there will be a B2B session,eventually to be concluded by the Chief Minister.
“On behalf of the industry I can say thatwe are grateful that the Government of West Bengal is giving us this opportunityand also allowing us to shape policy along with the Government, to make our recommendationsin free, frank and forthright manner. I think this is something which will go along way in building confidence and credibility,” said Mr Goenka.
