Since the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal passed the Revocation of West Bengal Incentive Schemes and Obligations in the Nature of Grants and Incentives Act, 2025, at least six major industrial houses have knocked on the doors of the Calcutta High Court, calling the law “unconstitutional”.
Passed by the state Assembly in April, the Act withdraws all incentives granted to industries since 1993, effective retrospectively from the date of implementation of each scheme.
Industrial majors, including UltraTech Cement, Electrosteel Casting Limited, Grasim Industries, Nuvoco Vistas, and Dalmia Cement, are among those who have appealed in the High Court. While the firms have filed separate appeals, the court will hear them together on November 7.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Debesh Das, who was the IT minister from 2006 to 2011 under the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in the state, speaks on the policy change and its impact on industries. Excerpts:
* Is a definite incentive policy necessary for the industrialisation of a state?
It is required to attract new investment. Every state has its own incentives. If you don’t do it, it simply means losing some industries to other states.
* What was the aim behind the incentive policy introduced during the Left regime?
First of all, our aim was to promote micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)… It helped the growth of small enterprises in the state. Next, we focused on medium industries. In the (Left government’s) last term, we also focused on large industries. Incentives in those cases were finalised on a case-by-case basis.
* What were the incentives offered to industries by the Left government?
There were several tax reliefs and some incentives for providing space in industrial areas. In the IT sector, the Left Front introduced venture capital. We were able to bring some startups using this venture capital. These companies are still working in our state. Incentives for bigger companies were finalised on a case-by-case basis after mutual discussion.
* Do you think the Mamata Banerjee government should have carried on with those incentives?
Obviously. Not only that, in the changed scenario, they should have thought of new packages. See the examples of the other states. Every state is planning new incentives day by day.
* How will this revocation of incentives affect industrialisation in West Bengal?
Obviously, it will have an effect, especially on the medium-scale sector.
* In your opinion, what has been the state of industries in West Bengal since the TMC came to power?
Initially, in 2011, when the TMC government first came to power, I thought it would forget its anti-industry stand and soon return to the path of industrialisation. As a Leftist, I am definitely against the anti-communist TMC, but even I couldn’t guess there would be such a wretched performance of the TMC government in industrialisation.
Today, except in small industries, we are lagging in every sector in comparison to the positions held during the Left Front regime. See the official data. See the statistics provided by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Union Ministry of Commerce. You can see from this data that from 1991 to 2010, we were third among the states in investment in medium-scale industries.
The situation has changed in the last 14 years. Our position is rapidly going backward. Now, we are among the lowest-ranking states.
Every day, we are seeing that the chief minister (CM) is inaugurating so many things, such as melas, pandals, etc. But did you see her inaugurate any industry? I cannot remember seeing in newspapers or media that any new industry actually came to this state during this era. Moreover, I can provide you with names of some industries that left this state during the TMC era. Previously, during my term as a minister, we were working hard to find space in (Kolkata’s Sector V area) for IT companies. Nowadays, much space remains vacant there.
* The TMC celebrated the withdrawal of the Tata Nano project in 2008 and the Supreme Court verdict in 2016 that declared the land acquisition for the project as illegal. Do you think there was a better way for the Left government to handle that project?
It is good that you mentioned the Supreme Court verdict. The TMC has now taken a strategy to wash their hands off the sins committed. In every court case, there is a plaintiff and a defendant. The plaintiff in this case was Krishijibi Raksha Committee, an organisation launched by the TMC, and the defendant was the West Bengal government. When the case started, the defendant was represented by the Left Front government, and when the verdict came, the defendant was represented by the TMC government. The case became a mock fight – TMC organisation versus TMC government. The TMC organisation obviously argued against industrialisation, but the defendant also argued against the project. If you go through the court proceedings, you will find that the defendant’s argument was more aggressively against the project than that of the plaintiff. Intentionally, the TMC government lost the case and I think the Court had no other option to declare that verdict when the defendant was aggressively supporting the plaintiff.
At this stage, I can’t say what could be the better way of handling that project. The compensation and other packages was enough in comparison to other such projects in the country. Almost 90% of people took the compensation, the court did not discuss the other benefits and packages we announced at that time.
After so many years, I can only say that we couldn’t understand that it was part of a larger conspiracy, in which not only the TMC, but also some other forces were involved. A conspiracy not only to defeat the Left, but also to move the state backward and stop its aspirations to move forward in industrialisation.
* Some say Mamata Banerjee is “more left” than the CPI(M) since she decided to give incentives to the poor, women, and weaker sections of the society rather than industries. Is this true?
There is nothing wrong with giving incentives to the poor, women, or weaker sections. We also started widow pensions, old age pensions, etc. Nowadays, some other governments are also giving these social incentives; some of them are providing more than those in our state, and not all are Left governments. The difference in attitude of the Left in giving these is that the aim of the Left was to help the poorest survive, whereas the goal of the TMC and others is to create a vote bank… Except for garnering votes, the TMC has no other goal, thus industrialisation, education, and other issues are not on the TMC government’s to-do list.
