State Economy 

Basic information about West Bengal

Location:

West Bengal is located at the center of the Eastern Region of India. The State is strategically positioned with 3

international frontiers, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The State of west Bengal borders the States of Jharkhand, Bihar,

Orissa, Sikkim & Assam. It stretches for about 700 km from the blue waters of the bay of Bengal in the South to the

mighty Himalayas in the North.

Area:

88752 sq. km. (less than 3% of total area of India.)

Population:

(2011) census - 91,347,736 (7.55% of total population of India).

Literacy Rate:  77.1 %

Languages:  Bengali, English, Hindi and Nepali

Temperature:

Summer:- 24 degree Celsius to 40 degree Celsius.

Winter:- 7 degree Celsius to 26 degree Celsius.

The average temperature in March ranges from 28 degree Celsius to 32 degree Celsius.

Monsoon: -

June to September

Rainfall: -

175 cms (annual average).

Economy: -

West Bengal, India’s sixth largest state in terms of economic size, has a projected Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs. 17.13 trillion (US$ 221.37 billion) in 2022-23. The state’s GSDP grew at a CAGR of 11.54 % from 2015-16 to 2022-23.

 
West Bengal have Jute industry, Tea industry. West Bengal is rich in minerals like coal. The tertiary sector is the largest contributor to the net domestic product of the State contributing 65.52% of the net State domestic product compared to 18.76% from primary sector.

West Bengal is the largest producer of rice in India. Rice production for state totalled 14.99 million tonnes in 2017-18.  West Bengal is also a major producer of Fish. During 2018-19 the state produced a total of 1.85 million tonnes of Fish.

Market:

There are 909 towns and 25 urban conglomerations in the State. Kolkata UA is the third largest
among the mega cities in India in terms of population. A vast rural captive market is also available in West
Bengal.

Economic Growth:

Industrial:

As against the growth rate of index of industrial production of 7.3% at the national level, the index of industrial

production in West Bengal stands at 10.6% (2015-16).

State Domestic Products:

During the year 2011-12, the growth of the Net State Domestic Product of West Bengal was 6.66% as against 6.48%

growth of gross domestic product of the country over this period.

West Bengal has a projected Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs.17.13 trillion (US$ 221.37 billion) in 2022-23. The state’s GSDP grew at a CAGR of 11.54 % from 2015-16 to 2022-23.

Infrastructures:

Power: -

As on March 2022, West Bengal had a total installed power generation capacity of 10,700.29 MW, of which 6,017.95 MW was under state utilities, 2,902 MW under private sector and 1,780.34 MW under central utilities.

Roads:

As of 2011, West Bengal has a total road length of 92,023 Km with road density of 1.04 km per squre km. Of this, national highways constitute 2,578 Km and state highways 2,393 km.

As per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, in 2018, the total length of NH in West Bengal has reached 3565 Km.

Communications:

Telecom:

As on April 2016, as per statistics published in press release of TRAI, there were 74.58 million wire-less (mobile phone) subscriptions (including 25.04 million with 90.43% VLR or active connections in Kolkata service area and 49.54 million with 93.68 % VLR or active connections in rest of West Bengal service area) compared to over 1034.25 million wire- less connections in the whole country with VLR or active connections of 90.31% and 1.275 million wire-less subscriptions in West Bengal.

VSNL has its international gateway and earth station in and around Kolkata Mobile cellular services and e-mail services are available from a host of operators. International connectivity is provided through VSNL and five STPI earth stations, viz. Kolkata, Durgapur, Kharagpur, Haldia and siliguri. DoT/GoI has selected Digha in East Midnapore district as the cable landing station fot the submarine cable laying project connecting India and South East Asia.

Ports

Airports:

There is an international airport at Kolkata and a domestic airport at Bagdogra, Siliguri. India's first aerotropolis is slated to come up near Durgapur- Andal region.

Seaports:

There are two riverine ports at Kolkata and Haldia.

Industrial Parks

WBIDC has developed multi product and sector specific industrial parks with state -of-the-art infrastructure keeping in

mind the GoWB roadmap for rapid industrial growth. Some of the parks developed by WBIDC include Manikanchan SEZ,

Shilpangan, Garment Park, Food Park, Plasto Steel Park, Polly Park, Vidyasagar Industrial Park, Raghunathpur Steel &

Allied Industrial Park, Panagarh Industrial Park, Shalboni Industrial Park, Godapiasal Industrial Park, Salanpur Industrial

Park, Rishi Bankim Industrial Park etc.

Major Industries

Iron & Steel, Heavy & Light Engineering products, Leather and Leather products, Chemicals & Petrochemicals and

downstream, Textiles, Gems & Jewellery, Food Processing , Hospitality & Tourism, IT and IT enabled services,

Automobile and Auto components, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Papers, Tea, Jute products, Electrical & Electronics,

Infrastructure & Real Estate.

Source : www.wbidc.com