NITI Aayog Eyes West Bengal Industrial Turnaround Under Ashok Lahiri

The new vice chairman of NITI Aayog Ashok Lahiri is expected to play a key role to reposition West Bengal as an industrial and manufacturing hub. Lahiri, who won the 2021 Assembly election from Balurghat as a BJP candidate, knows Bengal inside out. The Modi government is expected to rely on his expertise to prepare a long-term industrial revival plan for Bengal. Officials associated with NITI Aayog said preliminary discussions on the roadmap have begun under Lahiri’s leadership. The proposed framework focuses on manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure, river-based trade and employment generation, with Kolkata positioned as a gateway to India’s “Act East” strategy for stronger engagement with Southeast and East Asia. Once India’s second-richest state by GDP after Independence, West Bengal now ranks sixth nationally. Economists have attributed the decline to excessive trade unionism, administrative failures leading to weak industrial investment. Major factory closures during the Left Front era and limited industrial expansion during TMC’s regime also contributed to the downturn. Industry experts also cite the long-term impact of the Singur and Nandigram agitations on investor confidence. Many skilled workers migrated to cities such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad for better opportunities. NITI Aayog’s proposed strategy will focus on logistics, connectivity, manufacturing, ports, freight corridors, skill development and job creation. Policymakers are examining revival measures for engineering, chemicals, textiles and electronics industries, while also exploring a semiconductor corridor linked to eastern India’s mineral belt. Economists, however, caution that land acquisition challenges, weak infrastructure, financially stressed urban bodies and bureaucratic inertia could slow implementation. Analysts said investor confidence may have improved after the political change, but the success of the industrial push will depend on administrative execution and policy delivery.