The eighth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) was inaugurated at the Biswa Bangla Convention centre in Kolkata on Wednesday by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the presence of industry leaders from across India and delegations of 40 countries.
Leading business tycoons such as Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, ITC chairman and CII president Sanjiv Puri, Emami Limited vice-chairman and FICCI president Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, RPSG Group Sanjeev Sanjeev Goenka, Ambuja Neotia Group Harshavardhan Neotia were present at the event.
Bhutan's Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Younten Phuntsho and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, along with his wife Kalpana Soren, also attended the inauguration of the two-day event. Former India cricketer and Bengal's brand ambassador Sourav Ganguly was the star attraction.
The inaugural event began with the ITC announcing the opening of a global centre of excellence for artificial intelligence (AI) in Kolkata.
“This centre will serve clients across the globe. This will be the hub of artificial intelligence. This has been chosen because of the strength Kolkata has,” Puri said, thanking CM Banerjee for inaugurating the centre virtually.
Meanwhile, Jindal announced two 800 MW power plants worth Rs 16,000 crore at Shalboni in the West Midnapore district where JSW also runs a cement plant.
“We have not lost a single man day of operations of our plant due to supply chain constraints or labour issues which is a testament to the pro-business environment here,” he said while making his commitment for further investments.
During his speech, Mukesh Ambani also committed to raising Reliance’s investment in the state to Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of this decade. He stated that Reliance’s current investment of Rs 50,000 crore in West Bengal has created one lakh direct jobs.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani interacts with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren as Mamata Banerjee looks on | Salil Bera
Ambani also expressed his gratitude to CM Banerjee for ensuring that Jio could open its commercial operations from Kolkata.
“Today Jio is the number one data company in the world and it started from Kolkata,” he said, adding that Jio’s data centre in the city has been modified into an AI-ready data centre which will come up in nine months.
CM Banerjee stated that her focus was to ensure a pro-business administration in the state. She said the government would form a state-level investment synergy committee.
“The committee will be headed by the chief secretary. It will be a one-stop time-bound clearance mechanism for investment projects,” she said.
The chief minister added that the committee will sort out everything for the industries on behalf of multiple departments of the state government.
She also announced the government’s new policies relating to tourism, sand mining, renewable energy, manufacturing, and export, among other sectors to ensure a seamless business experience for investors. Six economic corridors were also announced.
