RELIANCE Industries chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday announced an additional Rs 20,000-crore investment for West Bengal over the next three years. Ambani said the fresh investment will be in the areas of digital life solutions, retail and bioenergy. “We plan to invest an additional Rs 20,000 crore in Bengal in the next three years for enhancing digital life solutions, augmenting Reliance Retail footprint and on bioenergy,” he said at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) here. The Reliance Industries has invested close to Rs 45,000 crore in the last few years in the state, Ambani said. “Reliance will leave no stone unturned to accelerate Bengal’s growth,” he asserted. The Reliance Foundation will also take up the task of renovating and restoring the iconic Kalighat Temple in Kolkata to regain its “original glory”, Ambani added.

 

MAMATA ANNOUNCES SLEW OF NEW POLICIES: WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a slew of new policies including plans to double the State’s exports, modernise its logistics and promote renewable energy manufacturing, while opening the Bengal Global Business Summit here. Banerjee also announced a policy to promote bio-fuels and a new sub-seacablelanding station at the sea-resort of Digha to help improve internet connectivity in the eastern region.

 

The Chief Minister also said the state’s economywasgrowingat8.41 per cent and its GDP would touch USD 212 billion this fiscal. West Bengal was ranked sixthinterms of GDP among Indian states in a recent report by Forbes India. She also to ldastar-studdedgathering of business leaders including petro-chemicals to retail tycoon Mukesh Ambani, energy baron Sanjeev Goenka andWipro’s Rishad Premji,thatfour new industrialcorridorswouldbe set up including DankuniKalyani, Tajpur portRaghunathpur, DankuniJhargram and Durgapur to CoochBeharinnorthBengal. Dankuni, eastern India’s largest logistics hub, already boasts of 9 km of conveyor belts to carry goods to and fromstoragesilos, addedher formerfinance minister and principal chief advisor Amit Mitra. The Bengal Global Business Summit, an annual affair, is being attended by several hundred companies from some 17 countries, including UK, US, Australia, Korea, Japan, Germany and France.