With the West Bengal government rolling out the red carpet for industry captains at the eighth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit, Reliance Industries Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday announced that his diversified group is planning to invest an additional ₹50,000 crore in the State by 2030.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the first day of the two-day flagship industry event, Sajjan Jindal, Chairman of JSW Group, said his group has plans to invest ₹16,000 crore for setting up a 1600 MW power plant, comprising two units of 800 MW each, in the State.

Ambani said his group will be investing in digital infrastructure and services, data centre, retail network, and solar energy, among others, in Bengal. “In 2016, when I first attended this summit, Reliance’s investments stood below ₹2,000 crore. Today, in less than a decade, our investments in Bengal have increased 20 times, and we are invested over ₹50,000 crore,” he said, adding that his group will double this investment by the end of this decade.

“More importantly, our investments have created over one lakh direct jobs and spurred significant economic growth in West Bengal,” he said.

“Back in 2016, Jio opened its commercial operations from Kolkata, this very city, the City of Joy...Today, Jio is not just the No.1 digital services provider or the data company in India; it is the No. 1 data company in the world, and this started from Kolkata...Jio’s network now covers 100 per cent of Bengal’s population. I am particularly thankful to the people and our customers in Kolkata city, because they continue to maintain the record of the highest users of data in India on our Jio network,” said the Reliance Industries Chairman.

He informed the group has modified its Data Centre in Kolkata to a state-of-the-art AI-ready Data Centre, and that would be ready in the next nine months.  On Reliance Retail, he said at present, it operates a network of over 1300 stores in West Bengal. “We plan to expand our network to 1700 stores in the next three years, operating 2.2 million square feet of warehouses in the State.”

Speaking at the event, Sajjan Jindal said the Government of West Bengal has consistently evolved its policies to maintain its competitive position. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made an unwavering commitment to making the State a hub for industry, infrastructure, culture and innovation.

Informing about his group’s plan to set up the power plant at Bengal’s Salboni, Jindal said whenever the State requires additional power the JSW Group would be ready to invest another ₹16,000 crore to double the capacity to 3200 MW.

ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri said progressive policies under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, made Bengal a very compelling case for investment. “Being a pan-India company, we have the option of investing anywhere, but our largest investments are in the state and will continue to be so. We have today 18 manufacturing facilities, several hotels, deep engagement in agriculture and growing presence in information technology...in the recent years we have invested ₹7500 crore in the State. “

The Chief Minister virtually inaugurated ITC Infotech Global AI Centre of Excellence at Kolkata’s Rajarhat. “I am happy to state that Kolkata has been chosen and Kolkata is where we created our global centre of excellence for artificial intelligence. This is going to service clients across the world,” Puri added.

RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said in addition to ₹40,000 crore the group has invested in the State, it has another ₹10,000 crore in the pipeline under implementation in the sectors like energy, healthcare and education.

Kolkata-based Ambuja Neotia Group is planning to invest over ₹15,000 crore in West Bengal over the next five years. The group is introducing Bengal’s first international-standard golf township, featuring an 18-hole golf course, with an investment of ₹5,000 crore.

Published on February 5, 2025