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KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that her government will invest $15 billion to upgrade infrastructure in Bengal. The CM was addressing over 350 CEOs across the world at the Horasis Asia Meeting, the biggest corporate and economic event in the state in 12 years.

Shashwat Goenka, the president of Indian Chamber of Commerce , which co-hosted the event with the state, introduced Banerjee as the chief minister who meant business.

R P Sanjiv Goenka Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka praised the Banerjee-led government, saying that after 34 years of non-performance, the state has undergone planned development over the last six years.

Banerjee said, “Bengal is the new industrial destination. Our work culture has changed. While 78 lakh man days were lost in the last regime, we have not lost a single man day in the last few years. We have invested in flyovers, bridges, health and education infrastructure in a big way.” Speaking on the ease of doing business here, she said: “We rank 3rd among the states in ease of doing business. Out of 376 parameters, we have qualified in 336. Bengal was ranked 30th in ease of doing business in the earlier regime. It was 15 three years back, and now we are in the top three.” The CM said if anyone had to come to India, they should just visit Bengal. The state was the gateway to Southeast Asia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the northeastern states.

According to her, the GSDP growth of Bengal in the last fiscal was more than India’s GDP growth rate. “The GDP growth of India was 7.1% and our growth was 9.27%. This despite the fact that parameters of calculation have changed,” she said.

