Hours of landing in Mumbai on Tuesday evening, chief minister Mamata Banerjee drove to Mukesh Ambani’s home to invite him to the Bengal Global Business Summit in January. The chief minister later told reporters that the Reliance Industries chairperson promised that he would attend the meeting.
Banerjee said, “I met him to personally invite him to the BGBS. He has promised to come.” Asked whether they had discussed any proposed investments in Bengal, she said, “They have already invested in Bengal. We are working together. It was a fruitful meeting.”
A fortnight before her roadshow in the UK for the 4th edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday landed in Mumbai to hard-sell Bengal. The state finance and industries minister Amit Mitra, along with secretaries from industry and other departments, is accompanying her.
The CM is likely to meet some top industrialists on Wednesday morning before attending the special session of the Young President’s Organisation (YPO) — a global organisation of young entrepreneurs. Incidentally, this would be Mamata Banerjee’s second visit to Mumbai after she became the CM. Last time she was there was in August 2013 for a roadshow on Bengal Leads, the earlier version of BGBS.
During her last visit, the CM had attended a meeting at Mumbai’s World Trade Centre where Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, Adi Godrej, Chanda Kochar, Uday Kotak, Ashok Hinduja, Harsh Goenka, Madhur Bajaj and many PSU heads were present.
During her two-day trip this time, Banerjee is likely to meet some big names. And this is the second time that she would address the YPO meet. The last time she had attended the meet was in Kolkata, in 2014. This time, JSW group chairman Sajjan Jindal has taken a special initiative to bring her to the YPO session. The directors of YPO’s Mumbai chapter include Mukesh Ambani’s cousin Niraj N Ambani, S N Zaveri of TBZ Group, C P Jain, S K Dalal and D G Vaizirani. Sajjan Jindal himself is the gold member of the organisation.
Commenting on Mamata’s Mumbai visit, Luxmi Group director Rudra Chatterjee said the YPO Mumbai comprises the country’s “prominent decision-makers”.
Titagarh Group vice-chairman Umesh Chowdhary said the chief minister has been tirelessly working towards promoting Bengal as an investor-friendly and progressive state and this is another important step towards that goal. Sarda Group chairman Ghanshyam Sarda said, “Showing exemplary leadership qualities, the chief minister is showcasing Bengal in Mumbai to make the state a major industrial destination.”
