On the historic day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee handed ‘parchas’ to 9,117 farmers at Singur, state industry and commerce minister Dr Amit Mitra brought out her ‘balance statesmanship’ in which she invited the Tata Group to invest more in the state.

“Chief Minister wants larger margin of investment from the Tata Group. She even had taken two business heads from the Tatas along with her to Munich – a tour to find fresh German investment,” said Dr Mitra at Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry meet on Wednesday.

Presenting the growth statistics, Mitra said that the traders’ fraternities of Germany are impressed with the figures. They will come to discuss investment in next Bengal Global Business Summit in January 20-21, 2017.

“We have given jobs to 68 lakh people and the process is still going on,” Mitra said at the BCCI gathering adding the state had largest bank funding in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME). The MSME contributes 95 per cent of Garman economy. “So, MSME can take a major role in the economy,” Mitra said.

Giving the statistics, Mitra said the present Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the state is Rs 9.5 lakh crore, which was Rs 4.60 lakh crore during the Mamata Banerjee government, had taken the office.

The figure is more than double. The fiscal deficit has reduced from 4.24 per cent to 2.68 per cent, which is an achievement. The revenue deficit of the state has reduced from 3.75 per cent to 1.03 per cent and moving towards zero. The income from state owned taxes have doubled. It was once Rs 21,129 crore, but now figuring at 42,920 crore.

The planned expenditure has increased 3 times; it was around Rs 14,650 crore, but now standing at Rs 54,069 crore. The social expenditure of the state has also grown up 4.5 times from the previous figure.

It has increased 7 times in agriculture, 4 times in physical infrastructure. The capital expenditure have increase from Rs 2,226 crore to Rs 15,947 crore.

“The construction of 10,663 km roads is underway, including 10,000 km rural roads. We have 99 per cent electrification in our states except Sundarbans where two Mouzas are still to be electrified, 6,000 new schools have made, 46 new government colleges have set up, 15 new universities including 8 private universities have come up here,” the industry and commerce minister added.

 

কৃষকদের অধিকার রক্ষা ও শিল্পোন্নয়নের ভারসাম্যের নীতিতেই মুখ্যমন্ত্রীর সাফল্য

কৃষকদের স্বার্থ রক্ষা ও শিল্পোন্নয়ন এই দুইয়ের ভারসাম্য বজায় রেখেই শিল্পকে এগিয়ে নিয়ে যেতে চান মাননীয়া মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। দেশ বিদেশের বিভিন্ন শিল্প সংস্থাকে রাজ্যে বিনিয়োগের জন্য আহ্বান জানান মুখ্যমন্ত্রী। কৃষি ও শিল্প দুইয়ের ভারসাম্য বজায় রেখে মুখ্যমন্ত্রী যেভাবে বাংলাকে উন্নয়নের দিশা দেখানোর কাজে এগিয়ে চলেছেন তা এক অর্থে প্রশংসনীয়।

বুধবার বেঙ্গল চেম্বার অফ কমার্সের এজিএম অনুষ্ঠানে এসে শিল্প মন্ত্রী অমিত মিত্র বলেন, “মুখ্যমন্ত্রী চান টাটা গ্রুপ বাংলায় আরও বেশি বিনিয়োগ করুক। মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের ডাকে সারা দিয়ে টাটার প্রতিনিধি দল জার্মানির মিউনিখে গিয়েছিলেন”।

বৃদ্ধি পরিসংখ্যান উপস্থাপনা করে ডঃ মিত্র বলেন, জার্মানির ব্যবসায়ীরা আমাদের পরিসংখ্যানে খুশি। আগামী বছর ২০১৭ সালের জানুয়ারি মাসে আয়োজিত বেঙ্গল গ্লোবাল বিজনেস সামিটে তারা আসবেন এবং এবিষয়ে আলোচনা করবেন।

“আমরা ৬৮ লক্ষ লোকের কর্মসংস্থান করেছি, প্রক্রিয়া এখনও চলছে। জার্মান অর্থনীতিতে ক্ষুদ্র ও মাঝারি শিল্পের অবদান ৯৫ শতাংশ। সুতরাং, MSME অর্থনীতিতে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা নিতে পারে,” বলেন অর্থমন্ত্রী।

GSDP পরিসংখ্যান দিয়ে অর্থমন্ত্রী বলেন, বর্তমানে রাজ্যের GDP গ্রোথ ৯.৫ লক্ষ কোটি, ২০১১ সালে যা ছিল ৪.৬০ লক্ষ কোটি। অর্থাৎ দ্বিগুনের চেয়েও বেশি। রাজ্যের আর্থিক ঘাটতি ৪.২৪ শতাংশ থেকে কমে হয়েছে ২.৬৮ শতাংশ যা নিঃসন্দেহে একটি সাফল্য। রাজস্ব ঘাটতি শতকরা ৩.৭৫ থেকে কমে ১.০৩ হয়েছে, ক্রমশ তা শুন্যের দিকে এগোচ্ছে। রাজ্যের আয় বেড়ে দ্বিগুন হয়েছে। আগে ছিল ২১.১২৯ কোটি টাকা এবং এখন তা হয়েছে ৪২.৯২০ কোটি টাকা।

পরিকল্পিত ব্যয় ৩ গুণ বেড়ে গেছে; আগে ছিল ১৮.৬৫০ কোটি টাকা, কিন্তু এখন হয়েছে ৫৪.০৬৯ কোটি টাকা। রাজ্যের সামাজিক খাতে আয় প্রায় ৪ গুন বৃদ্ধি পেয়েছে। কৃষিখাতে বৃদ্ধি পেয়েছে ৭ গুন। মূলধনি ব্যয় ২,২২৬ কোটি টাকা থেকে বেড়ে হয়েছে ১৫.৯৪৭ কোটি টাকা।

শিল্পমন্ত্রী আরও জানান, “ ১০,৬৬৩ কিলোমিটার সড়ক নির্মাণের কাজ চলছে এর মধ্যে ১০,০০০ কিলোমিটার গ্রামীণ সড়ক। সুন্দরবন ছাড়া আমাদের রাজ্যে প্রায় সব জায়গায় ৯৯ শতাংশ বিদ্যুতায়ন হয়ে গেছে। ৬০০০ নতুন বিদ্যালয়, ৪৬ টি সরকারি কলেজ তৈরি হয়েছে। ১৫ টি নতুন বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় তৈরি হচ্ছে, এর মধ্যে ৮ টি বেসরকারি”।

 

 

Edited excerpts of Dr Amit Mitra’s interview with Economic Times (published on August 30, 2016)

 

What’s the mood among industrialists?

Everybody I met today, including private equity firms, multinational corporations, acknowledge the change that has happened in West Bengal. The growth of gross value added (GVA) in 2014-15 has been a little over 10% when India’s growth has been 7.3%.

1

Tell us what happened in the financial year 2015-16?

We are perhaps looking at GVA growth of as much as 12%, when India has been growing at least 3 to 4 percentage points less. In 2010-11, our state’s nominal GDP was Rs 4,61,000 crore. In 2014-15, it has doubled to Rs 8,00,000 crore, and in 2015-16, our revised figures are Rs 9,39,000 crore.

 

How did this happen? What were the drivers?

There are three major drivers. The first is the government expenditure which translates into Keynesian multiplier. During 2010-11(the last year of the communist government), West Bengal’s planned expenditure was little over Rs 14,650 crore. The actual planned expenditure in 2014-15, (under Trinamool) had touched Rs 39,893 crore. In 2015-16, it is Rs 54,000 crore. So from Rs 14,000 crore to Rs 54,000 crore – it is quite a jump.

 

What’s it spent on?

Capital expenditure within planned expenditure, which is asset creation, was a negative 26% in 2010-11 under the communist regime. We reversed it. It is actually six times of what it was in four years. What it simply means to me as an economist is that Keynesian multiplier on asset creating expenditure, which means cement, steel — the whole down-the-chain industry which creates Keynesian multiplier is approximately 4 times in India. One of the factors that’s debated in the West is when private expenditure is slow, public expenditure can trigger private investment.

One element of this is private expenditure and it gets attracted once they see GDP growth taking place in a stimulated economy and the dipstick tests show there’s a lot of energy in the economy. So, these numbers — of planned expenditure and capital expenditure — are the triggers. Whereas in communist rule, capital expenditure was at a negative 26% during their last year, and it was shrinking. Planned expenditure was a puny Rs 14,000 crore. A climb to Rs 54,000 crore in five years – this has never happened in any state to my knowledge. And no one knows about it.

 

Isn’t there a flipside to the public expenditure? The looming debt trap which West Bengal is facing, which Mamata Banerjee herself termed as a death trap…

The debt is phenomenal — the debt left behind by the communist government was Rs 2,00,000 crore. Its bonds or small savings matured, I’m not talking about interest. I’m talking just about repayment of principal amount. In five years, we repaid Rs 42,000 crore, which is all from the Rs 2,00,000 crore left behind by the CPI(M). What we have borrowed has not come back to maturity.

These are all 10-year debt which we repaid. The total amount we have borrowed during our regime is Rs 1,13,000 crore of which Rs 94,000 crore is for repayment and interest of that Rs 2,00,000 crore. Imagine, my last year’s repayment and interest was Rs 28,000 crore. This year, it is about Rs 33,000 crore. And the coming years when they borrowed the most in 2007-08, those bonds will come to haunt us.

 

Are your new borrowings at a lower cost?

At a much lower cost as we have borrowed from the market. We have borrowed at a much lower rate. At least 200 points difference. Having said so, our debt GDP ratio has come down.

 

How come?

Because GDP has grown phenomenally. So, while there’s no question that we are in a debt trap because we are essentially borrowing. Just Imagine, we have borrowed .Rs 1,13,000 crore of which Rs 94,000 crore has gone towards repayment and interest. We have thus borrowed for development about Rs 18,000 to Rs 19,000 crore in five years. So we haven’t borrowed much at all.

 

How did you fund the growth in GDP that you mentioned earlier?

Taxes have exactly doubled.

 

How did you manage to do that?

Tax collections went up from Rs 21,000 crore to almost Rs 43,000 crore in four years in our regime. We have implemented the largest e-taxation drive by any state in India during the period, and the central government has given us the highest award for that.

 

How does this e-taxation work?

Every part of the tax can only function transparently through the computer. For example, VAT registration and digitised signature cannot be done in paper. It has to be done compulsorily online. What did the government give you back? Dematerialised VAT certificate with digitised signature. Then the ease of doing business in the state.

Businessmen were complaining that they paid VAT and should be able to seek refund, but they don’t get it. So I said we’ll give you 90% of what you self-declare. Then I got information that some officer arrives at their offices — you know what that means. I’m perhaps the only finance minister in India who said on the floor of the house after consulting with the chief minister that no officer shall go to a dealer’s office without an official letter from the commissioner. Within three months, the loophole got plugged, and now it’s a perfect system.