West Bengal is the largest producer of rice and second largest producer of potato and fish in India.
West Bengal is situated in eastern India and shares its borders with Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Sikkim, and Assam. The state also shares international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. The Bay of Bengal is in the south of West Bengal.
West Bengal, India’s sixth largest state in terms of economic size, has a projected Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Rs. 18.8 trillion (US$ 227.05 billion) in 2024-25. The average annual GSDP is estimated to increase at 10.5% from 2023-24BE.
In FY24 the total exports from the state stood at US$ 11,684.64 million. West Bengal exported key items such as Engineering Goods and Gems and Jewellery.
During 2018-19, the state produced a total of 1.85 million tonnes of fish.
West Bengal is the second largest tea-producing state in India and is home to the globally acclaimed Darjeeling tea variety. West Bengal is the largest producer of rice in India. Rice production for the state totalled 13.32 million tonnes in 2021-22.
Its location advantage makes the state a traditional market for eastern India, the Northeast, Nepal, and Bhutan. It is also a strategic entry point for markets in Southeast Asia. The cost of operating a business is lower in Kolkata than in other metropolitan cities.
West Bengal has abundant natural resources of minerals and suitable agro-climatic conditions for agriculture, horticulture, and fisheries. It is in vicinity to mineral rich states like Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha. It offers excellent connectivity to the rest of India in terms of railways, roadways, ports, and airports.
As of March 2024, West Bengal had a total installed power generation capacity of 10,800.27 MW, of which 5,997.95 MW was under state utilities, 2,955.98 MW under private sector and 1,846.34 MW under central utilities.
Of the total installed power capacity, 8763.34 MW was contributed by thermal power, 1396.00 MW by hydropower and 640.93 MW by renewable power.
Between October 2019-March 2024, FDI inflows in West Bengal stood at US$ 1,609.67 million.
West Bengal ranked eleventh among Indian states on ease of doing business and reforms implementation according to a study by the World Bank and KPMG.