Tatas swear by the name of West Bengal, but will they have a second thought?

KOLKATA: The Tatas are perhaps never going to invest in West Bengal again, at least not so long as Mamata Banerjee's government is in power. So much was said by Tata representatives in Calcutta High Court on Wednesday during a break in the court proceedings, without of course wanting to get quoted.

"It is clear that Ms Banerjee's government does not want the Tatas here. There is therefore no point in our trying to be here" a senior Tata Motors official said. The Tatas fought the state government all of Wednesday in court to protest against the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011.

"We had wanted to cooperate with the state government and had therefore written a letter, expressing our willingness to invest more in future. But with things having turned out the way they are, there is no possibility of our making any fresh investment in future in West Bengal" the official said.

Tata Motors had invested nearly Rs 1,800 crore in the Nano project at Singur.

Angry words said in a huff perhaps, but then Ratan Tata had also left in one in 2008 when he could take it no more. The Nano project was taken out to Narendra Modi's Gujarat. However, once Mamata Banerjee swept the assembly polls in West Bengal, the Tatas wrote saying that they would be eager to make more investments in the state. When the new government was sworn in, the Tatas wrote to the chief minister congratulating her, to which Mamata also replied back a few days later.

The sudden development concerning the Singur Act , however, has now precipitated matters. As another Tata group official present in court pointed out: "The new government's move only sends the message that there is a lack of continuity in thinking, and that at any point, a decision may change. An investor will take all these into consideration before deciding to make fresh investments. People begin to wonder whether they should go into such a situation"

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/tatas-swear-by-the-name-of-west-bengal-but-will-they-have-a-second-thought/articleshow/8971518.cms