Sectors

Agribusiness and Horticulture

The most obvious advantage of West Bengal is in the agribusiness. The province has the best record of land reform in India with the resulting growth in agricultural production, one of the few recent success stories in this sector. There is huge demand for (cold) storage facilities, packaging, fungal resistant seeds, special fertilizers and proper transport facilities to airports or seaports.

West Bengal is home to the world famous Darjeeling Tea. The Tea Board of India, where international tea auctions take place, has its headquarters in Calcutta.

West Bengal is the key raw jute producing province in India and has most of jute processing industry there. The Office of the Jute Commissioner, a part of the Ministry of Textile of the Indian Government, is situated in Calcutta.

A new wholesale flower market just opened up in Calcutta with the state of the art technology. This is expected to provide a platform for the small farmers of the province who have taken up flower production in a major way. The province is extremely suited to horticulture and already exports flower to other parts of India. The investment in the sector is expected to be huge in the near future.

Livestock

India’s livestock activities are a relatively recent phenomenon. It took off with the economic liberalization of the nineties. Physical output of livestock got boost with increase in the production of crops. Rising middle class with changing food habits acted as a big stimulus to the growth of this sector that is expected to continue for many years. With better care of animals, nutritious feed and further consolidation, the sector is expected to see huge demand in animal feed, feed supplement and pharmaceutical products.

Food Processing

Food processing is an area of unlimited potential due to the increasing purchasing power of a large and growing middle class. Six “food parks” have been set up under public-private partnership.

To promote exports of processed vegetables and fruits, the provincial government has set up Agricultural Economic Zones (AEZ). Plans are on to set up one new AEZ each in pineapple processing, lychee, potato, mango and vegetables. Finally, an AEZ is planned in tea in the district of Darjeeling, the most famous name in tea in the world.

Leather

India has always enjoyed competitive advantage in leather goods. West Bengal is the 2nd largest producer and exporter of leather and leather goods in India. Cheap raw material, abundant water supply, skilled labor and low cost of operations make West Bengal an attractive destination of leather based industries.

The provincial government has established a modern leather complex in Bantala, outside Calcutta. About 1100 acres of land are being developed for the production of footwear, footwear uppers, leather goods and garments. It has got the SEZ (special economic zone) status from the central government in New Delhi.

Engineering/Manufacturing

The engineering/manufacturing sector is poised for a comeback in the region around the cities Calcutta, Durgapur and Kharagpur. The central government in New Delhi has recently chosen this region as the target area for huge investment in the engineering sector. Three top engineering universities and a large number of polytechnics there make it possible to realize this ambition.

The moribund traditional engineering industry surrounding Calcutta is being overhauled in a big way. Kharagpur is expecting huge investment in car products and other manufacturing. IIT Kharagpur is placed in the very top group in all rankings of technical universities of the world.

IT and BPO

IT and BPO sectors started to pick up in Calcutta with the recent determined policy of the provincial government. This has to do with a large pool of well-trained English speaking IT professionals there, and the logistic difficulties of further expansion in these sectors in the already successful cities like Bangalore, Hyderbad, Chennai and Pune.

Special areas in greater Calcutta have been earmarked for growth in this sector. Already General Electric, IBM and the Indian IT giants, like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam, have started their operations there.

Water Sports and Recreation

The provincial government of West Bengal plans to promote Water Sports in the river Ganges and is also looking at promoting river cruise tourism through public private partnership.

The provincial government is planning to promote parasailing, speedboat rides and upgrade the river infrastructure. Sea cruise to Andaman and Nicobar islands is expected to get increasing popularity, and more destinations are certain to open up in the near future.

Biotechnology

After the ICT, biotechnology is becoming the new boom industry in India. The provincial government is setting up a huge biotechnology research center adjacent to the biotechnology campus of the University of Calcutta. The illustrious Presidency College in Calcutta has been selected as the fist biotechnology Center of Excellence by the Indian government.