Tailor-made benefits to woo mega projects through Bengal's new investment policy plan

Projects may qualify with Rs 500-crore or Rs 1,000-crore investment, 50 jobs per acre or links to priority sectors, including semiconductors and green hydrogen

The provision to extend tailor-made benefits to strategic and mega projects under the West Bengal Investment Promotion Policy, 2026 may allow the Suvendu Adhikari government to go all out in wooing big-ticket investment the state desperately needs to bury the ghost of Singur, industry experts have said.

While a strategic or mega project receives all standard benefits, they may also apply for tailor-made benefits, including higher overall and annual ceilings, the policy document showed.

Every other major industry friendly state has such provisions, allowing them to negotiate benefits that a mega project may get outside the realm of the stated policy. "It often boils down to a competitive situation where states are vying for a marquee project and trying to outdo others with goodies," said an industry head.

In the past, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had gone all out to get Tata Motors to set up the small car factory in Bengal's Singur. It offered 997-acre land at a subsidised rate, extended a soft loan of ₹200 crore, subsidised electricity tariff and facilitation in infrastructure development such as road and electricity line.

The generous offer then swayed Tata Motors to set up the small car factory, which was a major talking point in the automobile world, at Singur instead of Uttarakhand where it was initially envisaged.

In the recent past, Gujarat trumped Maharashtra to bag a semiconductor unit with a more generous offer.

In Bengal, state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta has often underlined the need to get a marquee project in the state. His sentiment has also been echoed by Niti Ayog vice- chairman Ashok Lahiri.

"In a state where aspirations have collapsed, such projects would serve as a wake-up call for investors, businessmen, bankers as well as the general public," Lahiri said.

According to the manual, a project will qualify as strategic or mega, if it qualifies two of the three aspects: fixed capital investment of ₹500 crore if land is arranged by the industry or ₹1000 crore if land arranged by the state, 50 direct jobs per acre of land and if they are part of strategic sector such as semiconductors, EVs, advanced batteries, green hydrogen, data centres, petrochemicals, textile, gems and jewellery, defence among others.