Economy of Kolkata

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Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India and the main port of communication for the North-East Indian states.Kolkata is home to India's second-largest bourse ^[1] — The Calcutta Stock Exchange, a major port, an international airport and many high quality colleges aimed at supplying a highly-skilled work force.^[2]

Kolkata is home to many industrial units, of large Indian corporations, whose product range is varied and includes - engineering products, electronics, electrical equipment, cables, steel, leather, textiles, jewellery, frigates, automobiles, railway coaches, wagons, tea, paper, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, tobacco, food products, jute products etc. Some notable companies headquartered in Kolkata include ITC Limited, Bata India, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd., Birla Corporation, Merlin projects Ltd., Bengal Peerless, Orient fans, Exide, Berger Paints, Coal India Limited, and National Insurance Company. However, only a few banks — among them Uco Bank and United Bank of India — have their home offices in Kolkata; Standard Chartered Bank has a major branch in Kolkata.^[3]

Most of the slum dwellers participate in the informal economy ^[4] and work in laundering, housecleaning, sweeping, plastic salvaging, plumbing, furniture making, electrical wiring, TV repair, masonry, messaging, hawking, rickshaw pulling, hair design, folk medicine, music and art, tailoring, leather work, shoe making, and food selling.Until recently, flexible production had always been the norm in Kolkata, and the informal sector has comprised more than forty percent of the labor force.^[5]

Kolkata witnessed an economic decline from the sixties till the late nineties. The partition, along with the massive migrant refugee, the predominance of the trade-unions, lack of capital, the Bangladesh war, the Naxal liberal movement, frequent strikes, the collapse of the jute industry, and the breakdown of infrastructure and management served to nearly destroy the economy of Kolkata. In the 1980s, owing to this generalised depressed economy, Kolkata earned yet another sobriquet — the "dying city".^[6]. Since then, the city's fortunes have improved, coinciding with the liberalization of the Indian economy.

Several industrial estates like Taratolla, Kalyani, Uluberia, Dankuni, Kasba, Howrah are spread throughout the urban agglomeration. A huge leather complex has come up at Bantolla. An export processing zone has been set up in Falta. Specialized setups like the country's first Toy Park, and a Gem and Jewellery Park have also been established.

The state of West Bengal has promoted foreign direct investment, which has mostly come in the software and electronics field.^[7] Kolkata is also becoming a major hub for the IT (Information Technology) industry. With construction underway of New Town at Rajarhat and extension of Salt Lake's Sector-V, Kolkata is rapidly turning into a preferred IT/BPO destination.^[8] More and more businesses are coming to Kolkata to set up their offices, including multinationals such as IBM, HSBC and ABN AMRO Bank. Leading the way in growth have been the Kolkata based companies such as Skytech, WDC, Vision Comptech and Polaris Networks amongst numerous others. This apart, other big Indian software firms are choosing to make Kolkata their hub of operations. Of these Wipro, TCS, MBT, Cognizant are leading the way. Owing to the recent boom in the economy of Kolkata and also the state as a whole, West Bengal is now the third fastest growing economy in the country ^[9] and the city's IT sector is growing at a rate of 70% per year — twice the national average.^[10] With the proposed cable landing station in the coastal West Bengal in the offing, the city is going to offer even better infrastructure for I.T. ^[11]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ CSE Factbook. Calcutta Stock Exchange Association Ltd.
2. ^ Dasgupta, 2002
3. ^ Standard Chartered Bank website
4. ^ Thomas, 1997, pp. 113-114
5. ^ Globalizing Cities: A New Spatial Order, Mark D. Bjelland et al.
6. ^ Spiegel online article
7. ^ Dasgupta, 2002
8. ^ Frontline article
9. ^ Remarks of Consul General Henry V. Jardine to The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce “INDO-U.S. RELATIONS – RISING TO NEW HEIGHTS” October 19, 2005
10. ^ Datta, T."Rising Kolkata's winners and losers". BBC Crossing Continents article. 22 March, 2006
11. ^ Bengal on IT highway. The Telgraph. 31 March 2006.