Eight years after Tata Motors exited the state following violent agitation over acquisition of land for its small car project, the West Bengal government on Saturday mounted efforts to woo investments from the group.
“Tell me if you have any problems, give a template of what you want,” State Minister for Finance and Industries Amit Mitra told the senior management of two Tata companies which have a presence in West Bengal.
He was participating in an open session with the members of the Confederation of Indian Industries - Eastern Council, sharing the dais with Tata Steel Managing Director, T.V. Narendran. Mr. Narendran, is also the deputy chairman of CII –Eastern Region.
Exhorting Tata Hitachi and Tata Metaliks to apprise the government of their problems, he hoped that “ the Tatas would participate in the state’s hospitality projects which are going up for bidding.”
“Can we motivate the Tatas or the Oberoi group to participate in the next round of bidding at the Gajoldoba project in North Bengal,” he asked at the gathering.
While Tata Metaliks Managing Director Sanjiv Paul said the company was happy with the resolution of certain infrastructure issues, Tata Hitachi's HR head Indu Singh said the company had faced struggles with industrial peace in West Bengal, and sought the government’s support for resolving certain contract labour issues.
Mr. Mitra who was a part of industry in his previous avatar in FICCI, appealed to the corporates to appreciate the fact that the government’s functioning was different from theirs as the government had to protect public interest.
He exhorted the CII to get cracking to go beyond “filling gaps. Take up the challenge.. create you own market,” he said.
To an observation on the fiscal incentive policy of neighbouring states, the Minister asked the CII to carry out a comparative study and submit it to him.
