West Bengal received 156 investment proposals amounting to Rs.28,318 crore in fiscal 2013-14, a minister said Tuesday.The proposals have the potential to general employment for 1.52 lakh people, state Finance, Industries and Commerce Minister Amit Mitra said at the state assembly here.Mitra said 296 projects entailing an investment of Rs.78,092 crore have either been initiated or are in different stages of implementation since June 2011 and till January 2014. The Trinamool came to power in May 2011.Mitra said that in contrast, the erstwhile Left Front government could implement only four projects out of the many memorandum of understanding signed in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Mitra claimed the state recorded the highest bank credit growth among all states at 105 percent.The state's Index of Industrial production (IIP) stood at 9.9 percent.Asked to comment on Mitra's statement, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Surjya Kanta Mishra said: "The minister has provided vague statistics.""I am also unable to comprehend the difference between projects initiated and in the implementation stage."Countering Mitra's contention that the Left Front failed to implement investment projects, Mishra said the state accounted for half the investment made in the country in the manufacturing sector during the last four years of Left rule.