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Nano pullout has dented
West Bengal's image: Industry
By
Aparajita Gupta
Kolkata,
Oct 24 (IANS) Not only has West Bengal lost the coveted small
car Nano project to Gujarat, the long-drawn political stand-off
between the state government and the opposition over Singur
has dented its industry-friendly image, industrialists and
economists say.
But
while some say it will take ages for West Bengal to recover
lost ground, others feel the setback is only temporary.
"It
is a big loss of face for the state. Even the business community
here has lost credibility," Indian Chamber of Commerce
president and Patton Group managing director Sanjay Budhia
told IANS.
"After
a long time, industries had started coming to the state, but
now with Tata Motors leaving, the present business scenario
is depressing. This is very unfortunate," Budhia said.
"The
days ahead will be very tough. It will be a Herculean task
to reach out to people once again. It will take some time
before we can again start everything afresh."
Post-Independence,
West Bengal had come to be known as an industrial hub, with
Hindustan Motors setting up an automobile plant to manufacture
the iconic Ambassador car at Uttarpara, near here.
But
a flight of capital started from the 1960s during the violent
anti-state Naxalite uprising, and got momentum in the 1970s
during an era of militant trade unionism.
It's
only from the mid-1990s that the current communist coalition
government began making a concerted move to promote industry,
along with agriculture, the state's economic mainstay.
After
the Tata pullout, said economist Abhirup Sarkar, West Bengal's
entire socio-economic scenario has become fluid.
"We
are in a complete mess undoubtedly. The pullout has slowed
down the industrialisation process, and tarnished the industry-friendly
image of the state," he said.
"Previously
also, there wasn't any industrialisation here. But then we
could claim our state to be politically stable and industry-friendly.
Now we can't even do that.
This
incident has worsened the industrial situation in the state,"
Sarkar added.
But SREI Infrastructure Finance chairman and managing director
Hemant Kanoria does not think the blow would be that hard.
"The
Nano pullout will impact in the short run but I don't think
it will have any effect on business in the long run,"
Kanoria told IANS.
"Industrialisation
is the need of the hour and the state's economy has enough
resilience," he said.
S.
Radhakrishnan, chief executive officer of IT outsourcing firm
Descon, broadly agreed with Kanoria.
"The
Nano pullout definitely has made some dent on the industrialisation
process, but I think the state will overcome that soon,"
Radhakrishnan told IANS.
"But
this pullout will definitely not have any direct impact on
the IT sector," he added.
After
facing a sustained agitation for two years, Tata Motors Oct
3 announced it was pulling out its Nano project from Singur
and blamed the state's principal opposition party Trinamool
Congress for the "painful" decision.
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