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 oldest, and also India's second-largest stock exchange Company (bourse) [1] — The Calcutta Stock Exchange. Kolkata is home to a major port, an international airport and many Nationally and internationally reputed colleges and Institutions aimed at supplying a highly-skilled work force.[2] Kolkata is also home to India and South Asia's First Metro Railway service- Kolkata Metro.[3]
There are a few of the oldest and front line banks and PSUs in India — such as Uco Bank, Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India and Tea Board of India — were founded and is Headquartered in Kolkata.The oldest operating photographic studio in the World Bourne & Shepherd is also based in the city. The Standard Chartered Bank has a major branch in Kolkata.[4]
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[edit] Informal Economic Sector
Most of the slum dwellers participate in the informal economy [5] 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.[6] For example, hawkers in Kolkata, numbering 275,000 generated business worth Rs. 8,772 crore (around 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005.[7]
[edit] Economic History and Recent Developments
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Kolkata was the most developed and the most industrialized City in India till the late Seventies. However, Kolkata witnessed an economic decline from the eighties till the early nineties. The partition was a major blow to the once flourishing economy during the world wars, it removed most of the hinterland cutting down the supply of the human resource and a took away a huge portion of its market. Also the huge inflow of refugee from East Pakistan, Bihar, Jharkhand was a major drain to the city's infrastructure which was inadequate for the population boom. In the 70's the city saw a predominance of the trade-union movements which forced the investors to flow out of the state to other newly emerging destinations in India. As the investors lacked trust in the newly formed communist government the lack of capital destroyed most of its small scale industries like foundrys and tool casting.
Since 1991, the city's industrial face have improved immensely, as it has managed to board the all India bandwagon of buzzing economic sectors like IT, BPO along with a good pace of development matching all India average [8] with the liberalization of the Indian economy. Several industrial estates like Bantala Taratolla, Rajarhat, Durgapur, Kalyani, Uluberia, Dankuni, Burnpur, Kasba, Howrah, specialized setups like the country's first Toy Park, and a Gem and Jewellery Park are spread throughout the urban agglomeration. The establishment of a new harbour at Haldia and industries like Haldia petrochemicals was one of the major come backs of the state of West Bengal, which in turn improved business and industry in the state capital. In 2009, Kolkata was ranked the hardest Indian city in which to do business by the World Bank.[9]
A plethora of IT-SEZ and IT parks have come up in the city, attracting Software Corporations and Foreign Direct Investment in Kolkata. More recent development like a huge leather complex that has come up at Bantolla an export processing zone that has been set up in Falta has set the city's reputation as an industrial hub in right path once again, paving its way for the new beginning in 90's.
A satellite Township development named Kolkata West International City across 400 acres (1.6 km2) is under construction, comprising several IT-parks, Malls, Residential Complexes, Hospitals, entertainment zones. This project is a joint venture between Indonesian based Salim Group and Universal Success Group in collaboration with Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The project is considered to be one of the largest foreign direct investments in township projects in India.[10] Another such Large scale satellite Township is being developed , known as Calcutta Riverside ,which is a Joint venture between Riverbank Holdings Private Ltd. and Bata India Ltd. and CMDA spreading across 270 acres (1.1 km2).[11]
[edit] India's Second Financial Hub in Kolkata
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday (13/10/2010) laid the foundation stone of the country's second financial hub after the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, at Jyoti Basu Nagar in the northeastern fringes of the city. Spread over 300 acres, the financial hub will house several banking and financial institutions, insurance companies and stock exchanges apart from hospitality and educational institutions. It would entail an overall investment of Rs.16,000 crore. "This financial hub will open a new vista for the people of this region of the country," said Mukherjee. The hub would play a catalytic role as a gateway to the Southeast Asia, he added, relating it to India's "Look East" policy. The hub is expected to generate employment opportunities and business prospects for West Bengal and the eastern region. "This hub would generate employment of two lakh people directly and three lakh indirectly," said West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.
Within three months of laying the foundation stone of the project, the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has decided to hand over plots to five nationalized banking and financial institutions that had submitted applications expressing an interest in setting up offices at the hub. The five banking institutions that will get plots are State Bank of India,UCO Bank, United Bank, UTI Mutual Fund and Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI).[5]
[edit] Banking and Finance
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Kolkata is an important centre for banking and finance. At present it is headquarter of three large nationalized banks Allahabad Bank, Uco Bank and United Bank of India. Several large financial companies and insurance companies are headquartered in Kolkata. Many Indian banks, multi-national banks and the World Bank have located their Branch offices operations in the city. All main banks from India have their branch office here. Also big financial banks like Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America and HSBC Bank have office and branches in Kolkata. So Kolkata is a financial capital of East India and also one of the largest financial hubs in India.
[edit] GDP and Major Companies based in Kolkata
Kolkata's GDP of USD 94 billion [12] in 2005 exchange rate was the second largest in India among Indian cities. In 2009, Kolkata's GDP grew to 162 billion USD, 3rd among Indian Cities. With its huge economy and cheap living expenses it is one of the World's major center of business in GDP PPP terms. 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. are Headquartered in Kolkata. Recently the city has been transformed to a major Information Technology hub in India
Some notable companies Headquartered in Kolkata include ITC Limited, Tata Steel Processing & Distribution Ltd, Coal India Limited, Haldia Petrochemicals, Exide Industries, Hindustan Motors, Britannia Industries, Bata India, Birla Corporation, CESC Limited, RPG Group, Bengal Ambuja, Philips India, Eveready Industries, Visa Group, Damodar Valley Corporation, India Govt. Mint and Peerless Group , Hindustan Motors, Usha Martin, Jai Balaji group, Orient Airways, KKN Group, Chirag Computers, Bengal Ambuja, Berger Paints India Ltd, SIMOCO (First Wireless Equipment and Mobile phone manufacturers from East India), Emami Ltd., Eveready Industries India Ltd.,Titagarh Wagons,and National Insurance Company.
Among these three of the Forbes Global 2000 listed companies are Headquartered in Kolkata, which includes ITC Limited, Allahabad Bank and Uco Bank.[13]
[edit] Information Technology (IT) Industry Boom
The state of West Bengal has promoted foreign direct investment, which has mostly come in the software and electronics field.[2] Kolkata is a major hub for the IT (Information Technology) industry in India. 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.[14] More and more businesses are coming to Kolkata to set up their offices, including International Giants such as IBM, Accenture, Cognizant, Texas Instruments, Cisco Systems, Intel Asia Electronics Inc, Deloitte, Sun Microsystems, Honeywell, PwC, HSBC Global Resourcing, Capgemini, Atos Origin, Foster Wheeler, Siemens, Novell. Leading the way in growth have been the Kolkata based companies such ITC Infotech, RS Software, IKF Technologies, Indus Net Technologies, Metalogic Systems, Ushacomm, WDC, Ontrack Systems, BNKe Solutions, Web Spiders, Intrasoft Technologies etc.
Kolkata being the One and Only Metropolitan city from East-India have attracted Major Software and Telecom firms across India and Abroad to set up their development centre here. The Eastern Region Council of NASSCOM the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India is situated in Kolkata.[15]
This apart, other big Indian software firms have already made Kolkata their hub of operations for Eastern region of India. Of these Wipro, Infosys,[16] TCS, Tech Mahindra, ITC Infotech, HCL Technologies, MphasiS, Genpact, Tata Interactive Systems, Ramco Systems, Firstsource, CMC Limited, NIIT Technologies, Moser Baer Ltd., Aptech IT, Aegis, Aditya Birla Minacs, Rolta India Ltd 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 [17] and the city's IT sector is growing at a rate of 70% per year — twice the national average.[18] 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.[19]
[edit] See also
- Kolkata Municipal Corporation
- Bengal Renaissance
- Kolkata Metro
- Calcutta Stock Exchange Association Limited
[edit] References
- ^ CSE Factbook. Calcutta Stock Exchange Association Ltd.
- ^ a b Dasgupta, 2002
- ^ [1]
- ^ Standard Chartered Bank website
- ^ Thomas, 1997, pp. 113-114
- ^ Globalizing Cities: A New Spatial Order, Mark D. Bjelland et al.
- ^ Ganguly, Deepankar. "Hawkers stay as Rs. 265 crore talks". The Telegraph, 30 November 2006. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061130/asp/frontpage/story_7071031.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
- ^ "Modi's Surat tops GDP race at 11.5%". The Times Of India. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/Surat_tops_GDP_race_at_115/articleshow/2736233.cms.
- ^ "Doing Business in India 2009". World Bank. http://www.doingbusiness.org/subnational/exploreeconomies/India2009.aspx. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
- ^ [2]
- ^ Calcutta Riverside
- ^ http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/richest-cities-2005.html
- ^ "The Global 2000". Forbes. 8 April 2009. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/18/global-09_The-Global-2000_Rank.html.
- ^ Frontline article
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ 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
- ^ Datta, T."Rising Kolkata's winners and losers". BBC Crossing Continents article. 22 March 2006
- ^ Bengal on IT highway. The Telegraph. 31 March 2006.
