The Hindu Business Line : Bengal chamber plans to encourage entrepreneurs

THE Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) on Friday unveiled plans to launch an independent Enterprise Development Institute in collaboration with the West Bengal Government.

Addressing newspersons here, Mr S.K. Chakraborty, the new President of the chamber, said application has already been made to the State Government for suitable land, preferably in the Salt Lake area for housing the institute. Pointing out that business was the only way to prosper in this age of growing joblessness, Mr Chakraborty said BNCCI was already running a training course in the chamber premises for aspiring entrepreneurs in the State. The plan was to broad base it, in deference to the wishes of the Bengal Government, in collaboration with the Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU) by housing it in a separate building, he said.

Listing the various projects being taken up by the chamber to promote industry in the State, Mr Chakraborty said the executive committee and office bearers of BNCCI have chalked out a broad outline to focus on the thrust areas of the State's industrial development.

Pointing out that the major emphasis would be on agriculture and allied product as well as food processing, he said there was a need to interlink issues such as market access, domestic support and export subsidies, in the on-going negotiations of WTO in order to strengthen agriculture. The chamber this year formed a new standing committee to spearhead the activities in these areas.

He said the chamber had plans to strongly recommend a single window service for the SSI sector and added that the sector was today plagued by inherent problems, which need to be sorted out with the help of the State Government. He also sought various incentives such as sales tax exemption for the existing SSIs when they modernise or upgrade their plant and machinery. Such incentives are now being given only to new units.

Suggesting that shifting of industries to the earmarked industrial parks needs to be looked into, as old enterprises were not too willing to move into these new areas, he said massive infrastructure development was required to be carried out in the first place. Many of the industrial estates in the State were still plagued by inadequate internal and external roads, insufficient street lighting, electricity and water supply, besides other necessities, he added.

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