The Economy of Kolkata mostly depends on the industrial sectors like IT (Information Technology), electrical, electronics, leather, textile and jute. The overall financial system of Kolkata is rapidly advancing towards building a strong economy in near future.
Economy of Kolkata: Present Scenario
To some extent, the economy of Kolkata depends on the informal industrial sectors like furniture making, electrical wiring, leatherwork, shoe making and masonry. Informal industrial sector facilitates to enhance the economical status of the citizens in Kolkata. The Government of West Bengal has adopted some liberalized industrial policies to attract the foreign investors, specifically in industrial sectors like IT, chemicals, plastics, energy and banking sector. The government is also trying to strengthen the overall infrastructure of the city by developing several industrial zones.
Economy of Kolkata: 1800 to 1977
Before independence, Kolkata was the business capital of India due to its enormous agricultural and mineral productions. In 1800, the first jute and paper mills of India were established in Kolkata. In that period, about 35% of the India's total industrial workers were employed in Kolkata.
After the partition, Bengal was divided into Bangla and East Bengal. East Bengal (now Bangladesh) was the main competitor of Bengal. Kolkata somehow failed to
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keep it's number one position in sectors like jute, heavy engineering, rubber, and paper. In 1977, the ban imposed by the Government of India on new licenses of large-scale industrial units in big metropolitan cities like Calcutta (now Kolkata), further hurt Calcutta's industrial growth.
Economic Potentiality of Kolkata
Kolkata has an enormous business potentiality due to its strong infrastructure, cheap and skilled labors and proactive government policies. Kolkata is the most important business center of Eastern India and a base to renowned Indian companies including Birla Corporation, Bengal Peerless, ITC Ltd., National Insurance Company, Coal India Limited, Haldia Petrochemicals and Bata India.
- IT plays a significant role and accounts for an appreciable portion to the overall economy of Kolkata. Big IT giants like IBM, TCS, MBT and Wipro have already started their operations at Salt-lake electronics complex, Kolkata. Some of the other renowned companies operating in Kolkata include SkyTECH, WDC, Compare Infobase Ltd, Great Media Technologies, Vision Comptech and Polaris Networks.
- West Bengal is regarded as India's 3rd fastest growing economy. The IT sector in Kolkata contributes a major portion to the national average of India.
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