Mamata Banerjee confident of investments in W Bengal after meeting industry chiefs in Mumbai

A confident West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who had arrived with a delegation of bureaucrats and ministers from West Bengal to seek investments in the state, told journalists in Mumbai, that the team from the state had announced projects for industrialists to invest in. She said the industrialists had assured her they would invest and do business in Bengal.

She added, the state had set up a land bank through land mapping, adding they had to clear up a mess of 35 years before she came to Mumbai.

To further underline her point she added, "No less than Mukesh Ambani himself said Bengal is a gold mine.''

Attending the meeting at Mumbai's World Trade Centre were Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, Adi Godrej, Chanda Kochar, Uday Kotak, Ashok Hinduja, Harsh Goenka, Madhur Bajaj and many other PSU heads. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO N Chandrasekharan was also present at the meeting.

According to commentators, if the chief minister were to be believed, they would all be investing in Bengal.

Ms Banerjee's meeting with the big guns of the corporate India served to send a message to doubting Thomases of her intentions. The fact her visit to Mumbai came barely 48 hours after a convincing panchayat poll victory over the Left lent added weight to her call for investments, analysts added.

"The work culture is good now and we do not support strikes. We have brought down man days lost from 78 lakh per year to zero," she said.

Ms Banerjee's sentiment was supported by Ambani, who said at the meeting, "48 hours after a big election victory you are here in the business capital. That means you mean business."

"Whatever I've done for Singur, I'm proud to do. I'm in favour of industry and I am in favour of agriculture too. Don't worry, industry will also smile and agriculture will also smile," she said. She reminded the audience that Shapoorji Pallonji, the largest shareholder in Tata Sons, had agreed to set up a project to build 20,000 houses.

Banerjee's pitch for investment yesterday comes as a far cry from the days of her party's opposition to the Tata Group's small car (Nano) project which had to be moved from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat.

Banerjee, however, declined to give a specific target on the investment front saying she had presented her case to industrialists who would now prepare a plan.

"Today, we announced all projects where they can invest and now they will decide whether to invest. I am confident we will get investments," she said.