Bengal biz conclave draws Rs 43,000cr investment pledges
Times of India | 19 December 2025
Kolkata: The business and industry conclave organized by the Mamata Banerjee govt saw investment proposals from leading houses such as JSW, Ultratech, JK Group, ITC, Titagarh Group, KFW and Texmaco, along with RPSG Group's green venture. Total investment proposals announced at the conclave add up to a little over Rs 43,000 crore.
The conclave was attended by leading industrialists, including ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri, RPSG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka, Universal Success chairman Prasoon Mukherjee, Ambuja Neotia Group chairman Harsh Neotia, JK Group director Chaitanya Hari Singhania and Dhunseri chairman CK Dhanuka.
KFW principal portfolio manager Thomas Geitzen, Titagarh group vice chairman Umesh Chowdhary, Luxmi Group MD Rudra Chatterjee, Patton MD Sanjay Budhia, JSW Energy Jt MD and CEO Sharad Mahendra, XPRO chairman Siddharth Birla and World Bank representative Hoon Sahib Soh were present, among others.
The industrialists shared their experiences of working in the state in the presence of CM Mamata Banerjee.
JSW Energy joint MD and CEO Sharad Mahendra announced that the group would invest in another 1,600 MW supercritical power plant at Salboni, taking the total capacity to 3,200 MW. The total investment of the group in power in Bengal would go up to Rs 40,000 crore, while incremental investment would be Rs 24,000 crore (with Rs 16,000 crore announced earlier).
"We have got environmental clearance for the first phase (800X2 MW). It would employ 3,000 people," he said. He added that the company was in the process of acquiring a supercritical boiler manufacturing facility in Durgapur, the only such plant in the east.
ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri said five more hotels are in the pipeline, and the company was looking for land in Darjeeling, Kurseong, and the Sunderbans.
Umesh Chowdhary of Titagarh Rail Systems said the company was planning to manufacture 1,000 metro coaches and Vande Bharat coaches at its Uttarpara facility, making it one of the largest outside China.
Prasoon Mukherjee, who flew in from Singapore last night for the conclave, said he has already started work on the data centre announced last year.
Singhania said the JK Group, which was born in Bengal, was returning to its roots. "After a gap of five decades, we shall start manufacturing activity in Bengal. We are setting up two new plants in Kharagpur for milk processing and potato processing," he added.
The KFW representative announced it would join hands with WBSEDCL for the second phase of the solar power unit in Bengal. The executive president of Ultratech, Mukesh B Agarwal, who was present at the venue, said it was expanding the cement capacity in Bengal by one million tonnes with an investment of Rs 600 crore.