Jaitley hopes states will vie for investments

Appreciating efforts of West Bengal to attract investments, the finance minister said the Centre would extend all support to the Trinamool-government to promote industry and boost growth in the state.

Amid Vibrant Gujarat Summit attracting proposals worth a staggering Rs 25 lakh crore (Rs 25 trillion), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday expressed hope that states would consistently pursue business-friendly policies and compete with each other to attract investments.

Appreciating efforts of West Bengal to attract investments, the finance minister said the Centre would extend all support to the Trinamool-government to promote industry and boost growth in the state.

He, however, added the Mamata Banerjee-led government would have to consistently take pro-reform and business-friendly steps to build investor confidence.

"We, in the central government, would be extremely keen to help West Bengal to grow," he said in his Facebook post entitled 'A Tale of Two Global Summits'.

States, he hoped, "are going to compete with each other in cornering investment. I have no doubt that the ones which consistently and uniformly pursue reforms and business friendly-policies are likely to succeed".

The ongoing Vibrant Gujarat summit attracted investment pledge of an astonishing Rs 25 lakh crore (Rs 25 trillion) in the first two days.

As many as 21,000 memoranda of understanding were also signed.

Earlier, at the West Bengal global summit, proposals envisaging investment of about Rs 2.5 lakh crore (Rs 2.5 trillion) were signed.

Jaitely said at both -- West Bengal and Gujarat summits -- the idiom, vocabulary and mind-set of organisers were to attract investments.

"West Bengal was a key industrial State.

“Beginning with the Naxalite problem towards the end of 1960s, coupled with the policies of the Left Front government, industry moved out of the state," he added.

He said Kolkata remained the principal engine of development in West Bengal’s growth and the state has to be redeveloped into an industrial centre once again.

"My colleague Shri Nitin Gadkari, who also attended the summit, was willing to help the state in the creation of a Kolkata-Siliguri highway.

“If such a highway is combined with an industrial corridor, it will give a major boost to West Bengal.

"Creation of more townships, better infrastructure, an industrial corridor, more effective utilisation of the sea resource has to be a future agenda of the state," he added.

The Goods and Services Tax implementation will increase the revenues of the state and part of the proceeds of the coal block auctions will augment its revenue, he said, adding NITI Aayog is intended to further decentralise the various schemes in the hands of the state government.

Talking about the Gujarat summit, he said this year ‘Vibrant Gujarat marketed India.