Is West Bengal Industrial Growth Booming?

Oct 22, 2026 - By Ashutosh Roy PoliticsEducationRegional UpdatesSocietyWest Bengal Politics

West Bengal Industrial Growth: Big Test Ahead

There was a time when the banks of the Hooghly River seemed to belong to Bengal’s factories. I grew up hearing stories from my father and grandfather about those days. The riverfront was lined with industrial units, chimneys filled the sky with smoke and, when a shift ended, thousands of workers poured onto the streets. Getting onto a bus or train was a struggle. Nobody needed a seminar to explain West Bengal industrial growth. You could see it with your own eyes.

That Bengal is difficult to recognise today. The Hooghly still flows past the old industrial belt, but many of the chimneys that once represented employment and economic power have fallen silent. The river has not changed much, but the industrial landscape around it certainly has. So the question remains: where did Bengal’s industrial momentum go?

How Bengal Lost Its Industrial Momentum

The decline did not begin with Mamata Banerjee. That would be historically dishonest. Bengal’s industrial problems had already become serious during the later years of the Left Front government. Militant trade-union politics, strikes, gheraos, political interference and poor labour-management relations steadily damaged the state’s industrial image. I remember hearing slogans such as “kalo haat bhenge dao, guriye dao” when I was growing up in the late 1970s. Only later did I understand what that political culture was doing to factories and jobs.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee realised that Bengal needed a different direction. His attempt to attract private investment, promote IT and bring large manufacturing projects back to the state was a major departure from the traditional Left approach. He also understood that an industrial state could not keep treating strikes as a normal part of political life. His comments on strikes remain an important part of Bengal’s industrial story.

Singur became the symbol of that unfinished experiment. Mamata Banerjee, then in opposition, built a powerful political movement around the Tata Motors project and the demand to return land to farmers. The agitation ultimately contributed to Tata Motors moving the Nano project to Sanand in Gujarat.

The Supreme Court later held that the original land acquisition at Singur was illegal, but by then the industrial opportunity had already disappeared. The Singur story remains one of the clearest examples of Bengal’s complicated relationship with industrial land.

What Did 15 Years of Mamata Rule Deliver?

This is where the criticism of the Mamata Banerjee years becomes unavoidable. It would be wrong to say that nothing happened after 2011. Bengal saw MSME activity, infrastructure projects, service-sector growth and individual investment announcements. But after 15 years, the state still had not produced the industrial transformation that its population, location and economic history demanded.

And how easily could businessmen trust a government whose political leader had made the Singur agitation one of the defining movements of her rise to power?

Mamata’s politics was built around “No Land Acquisition from the Farmer”, a position that helped her defeat the Left Front but also created a difficult question for future industrialisation. Large manufacturing projects require land, and investors need to know that a government can provide a predictable framework for land acquisition or land assembly when necessary.

The irony became even sharper later. The militant trade-union culture of the Left did not simply disappear under the TMC. Critics increasingly pointed to local extortion, syndicate politics and political interference as new obstacles for businessmen. Whether one calls it syndicate raj, cut-money politics or extortion, the concern for an entrepreneur is fairly simple: a factory cannot operate comfortably if informal political power gets involved in its day-to-day affairs.

Then came another damaging signal. In 2025, the Mamata government enacted the West Bengal Incentive Schemes and Obligations in the Nature of Grants and Incentives Act, retrospectively revoking industrial incentives and related obligations.

The legislation covered incentives dating back to earlier schemes and stated that industrial units would no longer be able to enforce past or future claims under those schemes. The government’s stated reason was that the incentives had placed a continuing burden on the state exchequer and had not produced the desired wider industrial impact.

Whatever the government’s justification, retrospective withdrawal of incentives is hardly the kind of policy signal that builds long-term investor confidence. A businessman investing hundreds of crores does not look only at today’s tax rate or land price. He also wants to know whether the rules and promises made by the government will still be respected ten or fifteen years later.

The Central Government’s data provides another warning sign. Between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2025, 6,688 companies shifted their registered offices from West Bengal to other states. This does not mean 6,688 factories physically closed and moved with their workers. They were registered-office relocations, and that distinction must be made. But the number still deserves examination. The Parliament-related figures were reported here.

The real question is why so many companies chose to shift their registered base elsewhere.

Is Bengal Really Growing Industrially?

West Bengal industrial growth is happening, but that does not mean Bengal has solved its industrial problem. The 7.3% industry growth figure for 2024-25 is correct, but it should not be confused with the 7.65% GSDP growth figure for 2023-24. The 7.3% figure refers to the industry sector, while 7.65% refers to overall GSDP growth. So Bengal is not an economic desert in the literal sense. The real problem is that respectable growth has not yet produced the scale of industrial transformation and employment that Bengal needs.

NITI Aayog’s Central Government assessment shows that Bengal’s industry grew by 6.0% in 2022-23 and averaged 6.6% annually during 2013-14 to 2022-23. Manufacturing averaged 8.1% during the same decade. But these numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Bengal can grow at a respectable rate and still fall short of what investors, workers and young people expect from a major industrial state. Growth in the statistics is one thing; factories, investment and good jobs on the ground are another.

The bigger question is what this growth means for ordinary young people. The massive queues for schemes such as Yuvasathi are a reminder of how strong the demand for financial support and better opportunities remains. Industrial growth matters because Bengal cannot build a strong future by expanding welfare dependence without creating enough productive jobs.

The Industry of the Future Is Already Different

Bengal cannot simply try to recreate the industrial economy of the 1950s. The world has moved on. Semiconductor manufacturing, electronics, AI, data centres, biotechnology, advanced logistics, renewable energy and high-value food processing are becoming part of the next industrial cycle. The challenge for Bengal is not merely to bring back the old factories. It is to build industries that can survive the next 20 years.

There are some encouraging signs. The Amul Bengal Dairy Project at Howrah Food Park involves an investment of about ₹700 crore and, when fully operational, will process around 30 lakh litres of milk a day and produce around 10 lakh kilograms of curd and other cultured dairy products daily. The Central Government says more than 1.25 lakh milk-producing farmers in Bengal are expected to benefit. The Indian Express report provides the wider context, while the ceremony can be viewed here.

Falta offers another useful example. Its export-oriented industrial ecosystem shows that Bengal can still create manufacturing and employment when infrastructure, market access and investment come together. The lesson is straightforward: the state does not need one giant Singur. It needs dozens of successful industrial clusters, export hubs and modern manufacturing ecosystems.

The New BJP Government Has No Room for Excuses

The political situation has now changed completely. The 2026 Assembly election is over, Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year government has ended and Suvendu Adhikari is the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal. The BJP therefore cannot campaign anymore on what it will do about industrialisation. It now has to show what it can actually deliver.

Political alignment with the Union Government gives the new administration an opportunity, but it is not a substitute for policy. Roads and railways alone will not industrialise Bengal.

The government needs usable industrial land, predictable approvals, reliable electricity, efficient logistics, skilled workers and an environment where entrepreneurs do not have to worry about political interference at every stage. Kolkata must also become a serious technology and AI destination, while Haldia, Durgapur, Kalyani, Asansol and other industrial centres need a clear place in the new industrial map.

This is where the wider Bengal education crisis discussed by Knowledge Mart also matters. Industrialisation needs more than land and money. Bengal needs engineers, technicians, researchers, software professionals and skilled workers who can fit the industries of the next decade.

Mamata’s Biggest Failure Was the Missing Industrial Breakthrough

For me, this is the strongest criticism of the Mamata years. It is not that every factory disappeared after 2011. That would simply be false. The stronger argument is that 15 years of TMC rule failed to produce the industrial breakthrough Bengal desperately needed. Singur damaged investor confidence at the beginning of her rule; the politics of land remained restrictive; allegations of syndicate and extortion politics continued; and the later retrospective withdrawal of industrial incentives created another uncomfortable signal for investors.

That is why even Saurav Ganguly’s proposed steel plant in Salboni became such an uncomfortable episode. The project was announced from Spain, despite Ganguly being one of India’s biggest sporting icons. His public standing could generate enormous attention, but even that could not by itself overcome the difficulties surrounding the project.

For Ganguly, it was a disappointing industrial venture; for Mamata Banerjee’s government, it raised an even bigger question about whether Bengal had become attractive enough for serious private investment.

Calling Bengal an absolute industrial graveyard would also be too easy. The state still has ports, MSMEs, engineering capability, natural resources, an educated population and a large consumer market. The 7.3% industry growth figure shows that economic activity has not stopped. But Bengal has not converted those advantages into enough large-scale investment and productive employment.

That is the uncomfortable position we are in today. West Bengal industrial growth exists, but Bengal is not industrialising fast enough to match its potential. The old Left model failed. The Mamata model did not deliver the promised industrial revival. Now the BJP government has inherited both the problem and the opportunity.

Can West Bengal Industrial Growth Finally Change Course?

I still remember the stories about workers crowding the streets after a factory shift and the smoke rising over the Hooghly. We should not romanticise everything about that period. Many old factories became inefficient, some were damaged by poor management and labour conflict, and some industries simply became obsolete. But the basic lesson remains: a state cannot build prosperity without productive employment.

The new government has already shown some glimpses of a different direction through projects such as Amul and other investment initiatives. But a foundation stone is not a factory, an MoU is not production and an investment summit photograph is not employment. The real test will come when projects begin production and people begin receiving permanent jobs.

West Bengal industrial growth will ultimately be judged by factories that actually produce, companies that actually invest and workers who actually receive sustainable jobs. If the BJP government can deliver that, Bengal’s industrial story can change. If it cannot, the political argument over who destroyed Bengal’s industry will simply continue under a different government.

For the wider political background, Knowledge Mart’s analysis of BJP, TMC and CPM in Bengal and its Bengal 2026 election analysis provide useful context for understanding how Bengal reached this political and economic turning point.

What Bengal’s Industrial Story Tells Us

• West Bengal still has an industrial base, but its scale and employment potential remain far below what the state’s history and resources should support.
• The decline did not begin with Mamata Banerjee. Militant trade-union politics, strikes and political interference during the Left era had already damaged Bengal’s industrial reputation.
• Singur became a turning point. Mamata Banerjee’s agitation against Tata Motors helped make land acquisition a central political issue, and the Nano project eventually moved from Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat.
• During the TMC years, critics increasingly raised concerns about syndicate politics, local extortion and political interference, all of which can make long-term investors cautious.
• The Central Government’s data shows that 6,688 companies shifted their registered offices out of West Bengal between April 2011 and March 2025. This does not mean 6,688 factories physically left the state, but it remains a signal worth examining.
• 7.3% is the correct industry-growth figure for 2024-25. The frequently quoted 7.65% figure relates to overall GSDP growth in 2023-24 and should not be presented as industrial growth.
• Bengal’s industrial future cannot depend only on its traditional strengths. AI, electronics, semiconductors, data centres, advanced logistics and modern food processing are becoming increasingly important.
• Amul and Falta offer reasons for cautious optimism. Large food-processing investment and export-oriented industrial activity show that Bengal can still create viable industrial ecosystems.
• The BJP government has inherited both the problem and the opportunity. Political alignment with the Union Government can help, but it cannot substitute for execution. Investment announcements must become factories, production and jobs.
• The real measure of West Bengal industrial growth will not be the number of MoUs or summit announcements. It will be the number of companies that actually invest, factories that actually produce and workers who actually receive sustainable employment.