– Baishali Mukherjee
The eighth Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2025, held on February 5-6, saw the presence of top industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL); Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW; Sanjiv Puri, chairman of ITC; Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group; and Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, among others. The two-day business summit witnessed the participation of 5,000 delegates including 25 ambassadors and 200 foreign delegates from 40 countries, with representatives from 20 partner countries.
On February 6, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that a total of 212 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and letters of intent were signed across various sectors. “Today, I am proud to say we received investment proposals of Rs 4,40,595 crore in BGBS 2025. This will create thousands of job opportunities in West Bengal,” the chief minister said at the concluding session of the Summit.
The education sector received significant investments in the two-day Summit. One of the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed in the education sector includes a collaboration between the West Bengal government and the British Council to bolster educational and career opportunities in the state, besides cultural exchange between West Bengal and the UK.
Additionally, Sardar Taranjit Singh, managing director of JIS Group, promised a total investment of ₹450 crore “to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure, enhance recruitment, and improve the quality of education in the State”. Of the 450 crore, 200 crore will be dedicated to strengthening JIS University, while ₹250 crore will be allocated to the establishment of Rishi Aurobindo University at Mogra.
Recognising education’s pivotal role in human development, another Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Alliance Française du Bengale (AFdB) and Techno India University (TIU) formalising a longstanding collaboration which aims to bolster Indo-French linguistic and cultural exchange in the Great Eastern Region of India.
As a part of the collaboration Salt Lake Annex of Alliance Française du Bengale will be established on the Techno Main Salt Lake (TMSL) campus, creating a new hub for French language and culture. This new facility will offer a range of programs and activities to students, faculty, and the local community, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of French language and culture.
The MoU also paves the way for a “Franco-Indian Centre of Excellence for Language and Culture”, which will establish dedicated annexes offering French language courses at TIU, TMSL, and various schools within the TIU group.
Moreover, on February 5, Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, announced an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in West Bengal over the next few years. The investment will be focused on three key sectors: energy, healthcare, and education.
Energy and healthcare sectors too will receive massive boost. The RIL chairman announced a proposed investment of ₹50,000 crore in West Bengal by 2030, while the JSW Group revealed plans to invest ₹16,000 crore to develop a 1,600 MW power project at Salboni. The Ambuja Neotia Group proposed an investment of ₹15,000 crore during the summit.
On the second day, the chief minister announced a significant oil exploration project by the ONGC in Ashoknagar, North 24 Parganas. “We have given 15 acres of land at Re 1 to ONGC in Ashoknagar. They have successfully discovered oil and gas, which will be utilised commercially. We are supporting ONGC’s initiative and will be giving petroleum mining leases too. This will bring Bengal in the petroleum map of India,” Banerjee informed the gathering.
It is pertinent to note here that, according to government reports, over the last seven editions of the Summit, investments worth ₹19.5 lakh crore have been made, out of which work for ₹12 lakh crore has rolled out in the ground.
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