Bengal government has identified around 40 small parcels of government land spread across the state that can be given to private developers to set up industrial park infrastructure for the micro, small and medium enterprises in the state.

The government had earlier announced the incentive scheme for approved industrial parks (SAIP) which offers various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage private sector to set up industrial parks on their own land.

The initial slow response prompted the government to tweak the scheme in 2021 bringing down the minimum land required for development of industrial park infrastructure to 5 acre from 20 acres earlier.

The state now is looking to offer its own land parcels typically in the size of around 5-8 acres to private players through West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Limited in a bid to expand the number of MSME units in the state over the next 5 years.

“Under SAIP only private land was considered because that scheme was conceptualised for encouraging the private developers to bring in private land for development of industrial park.

“Now, government is also offering government land to private developers to come and develop infrastructure for industrial parks.

“District magistrates from all over Bengal have already identified 40-45 viable government land, mostly around 5-8 acres in size, and these land will be given to WBSIDCL and they will in turn offer the land to the developers through the portal,” said Meghnad De, special secretary, department of MSME and Textiles at an Indian Chamber of Commerce organised event on Wednesday.

He added that the developers would get the same benefits available under SAIP scheme. WBSIDCL in a notification in December 2022 had stated that allotment of land would be exclusively through the state’s single window Silpasathi portal.

De further said that 50 private developers has approached the state MSME department under SAIP scheme for developing industrial parks on private land of which 14 applications have been approved, 20 have received in principle approval.