Bengal government has earmarked land for 57 micro small and medium enterprise (MSME) clusters out of the targeted 112 to be set up in the state.
“The focus will be on small and medium enterprises as they are labour intensive and income generative. We will do the largest number of clusters in India,” Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said at the annual general meeting of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.
“Fifty-seven clusters have been identified. Land is available. Our target is to set up 112 clusters of small and medium enterprises, which are labour intensive, tax generating and IT-based,” he said.
The minister hoped that Kolkata would become a major centre for trade once the two deep-sea ports to be developed in Rosulpur and Sagar in South 24 Parganas district, come up.
“The whole movements of traffic in all eastern catchments area will undergo a radical change (after the two ports become operational). ASEAN countries will choose us as the hub for all the eastern and middle-eastern regions. Kolkata will become a major centre for trade,” he averred.
On state finance, Mitra said he was confident of meeting the tax revenue target of Rs.31,000 crore from state taxes this fiscal as tax revenue collection during the first half of the financial year registered a 35 percent growth compared to the same period last fiscal.
The state government had collected Rs.25,000 crore revenue from taxes during 2011-12. “Revenue collection stood at Rs.14,176 crore in April to September this year. During the same period last year, Rs.10,428 crore had been collected,” Mitra said.