Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said his conglomerate will invest an additional ₹20,000 crore in West Bengal over the next three years. Reliance has invested close to ₹45,000 crore in West Bengal so far.
"Reliance will leave no stone unturned to accelerate Bengal's growth. Bengal has been one of the largest investment destinations for Reliance," Ambani says in his speech at the Bengal Global Business Summit.
"Bengal is truly rising, and the rise augurs well for the whole of India. India is now racing ahead to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030. This will make India the third-largest economy of the world. Bengal alone has the potential to become a trillion-dollar economy in the near future," Ambani remarks.
Ambani lauded West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for taking the state's GDP growth rate to 11.5%, higher than the national average. "Your tax revenue has trebled. And so have IT exports from the state. Capital expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors have risen nearly seven times. The number of medium and small industry clusters have gone up ten times. Bengal is poised to become the logistics hub of the East, which will attract new domestic and international investments," says Ambani.
In terms of the cost of doing business, it's one of the lowest in India, says India's richest man.
A prosperous Bengal will again become India's gateway to South-East and Far-East Asia, says Ambani.
Reliance Retail is increasing its footprint in the state. "Our network of nearly 1000 Retail stores will expand to over 1200 within the next two years. Our retail business is supporting hundreds of MSMEs," says Ambani. Reliance Retail operates nearly 20 lakh square feet of warehouses in Bengal.
India has the potential to become the largest producer of bio-energy in the world, says Ambani. Reliance is planning to set up compressed biogas plants in Bengal that will enable farmers to increase their incomes. "We target to establish 100 compressed biogas (CBG) plants in the next three years, consuming 5.5 million tonnes of agricultural residue and organic waste. We will also help farmers to grow energy plantations on a large scale. This would help mitigate nearly 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions and produce 2.5 million tonnes of organic manure annually," says Ambani.
"Countries like Singapore, Korea and Taiwan are regarded as Asian Tigers for their growth economies. But Bengal is now becoming so agile and ambitious that the fearless Royal Bengal Tiger will someday overtake all the Asian Tigers," Ambani adds.
