Tatas keen to invest in Bengal

Kolkata, August 24 

Tata group will invest in West Bengal as and when opportunities arise taking an apolitical stance in business, Chairman Cyrus Mistry said today.

“Opportunities have to show themselves in West Bengal. When the opportunities show themselves, we make investments irrespective of political dispensation,” Mistry replied to shareholders at Tata Global Beverages Ltd (TGBL) AGM when asked about the group’s investment interests in the state.

Relations between the Tata Group and the Trinamool Congress — now in power in West Bengal — soured after Tata Motors abandoned the Nano project at Singur in the state in 2008 following intense opposition from the party chief Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee opposed acquisition of farm land for the project and asked the Tatas to return 400 acres out of 1000 acres acquired for the project to the farmers.

A Supreme Court verdict on the matter is being awaited.

“We take an apolitical stance in business. West Bengal has a special place in our heart and history. We will look at West Bengal as a place to grow,” he said. — PTI