The economy of West Bengal is a mixed middle-income developing social market economy and the largest Eastern Indian economy with a substantial public sector. It is India's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and contributes to about 6.15% of India's total GDP.
West Bengal is the primary business and financial hub of Eastern India. The state is primarily dependent on agriculture and medium-sized industry. West Bengal has jute and tea industry. West Bengal is rich in minerals like coal, limestone, iron ore, copper, lead and zinc.
Since the independence of India, The Green Revolution bypassed the state. However, there has been a significant spurt in food production since the 1980s.
Agriculture and livestock
Agriculture accounts for the largest share of the labour force. It contributed around 17.13% to the gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2024–25. A plurality of the state's population are peasant farmers.
Major produce Rice and potato are considered to be the principal food crops. The state is the largest source of the important food crop of rice, a staple diet across India, with an annual output of around 16.76 million tonnes (about 13% of total production in India) in FY 2021–22, and the second-largest producer of potatoes in India with an average annual output of 12 million tonnes (about 20% of total production in India) in FY 21–22. West Bengal is also the second-largest fish producing state in India after Andhra Pradesh with an annual production of 20.45 lakh tonnes.
Apart from these, jute, sugarcane and wheat are the top crops of the state. Other major food crops include maize, pulses, oil seeds, wheat, barley, and vegetables. Tea is another important cash crop. Darjeeling is globally recognised for tea plantation of the acclaimed Darjeeling tea variety.
Below is a table of 2019 national output share of select agricultural crops and allied segments in West Bengal based on 2011 prices.2019 agricultural output of West Bengal based on the 2011 prices
Segment National share % Jute 88 Betel 75.2 Mesta 40.9 Cauliflower 40.5 Brinjal 33.6 Sweet potato 32.6 Tea 28.9 Cabbage 27 Jackfruit 26.8 Pineapple 25.2 Potato 24.7 Narcotics 24.2 Okra 23.3 Radish 23.2 Inland fish 22.6 Grass pea 21 Litchi 18.7 Sesamum 15.3 Guava 13.7 Masoor 13.1 Sapota 13.1 Paddy 12.4 Papaya 11.9 Egg 11.3 Cashew nut 9.6 Mango 9.2 Tomato 9.1 Meat 9.1 Marine fish 8.9 Water melon 7.9 Green pea 7.2 Chilli 7.2 Cereal 7 Dung 7 Rapeseed and mustard 6.8 Banana 5.9 Straw and stalk 5.4 Ginger 5.3 Kitchen garden 5.3 San hemp 4.5 Garlic 3.4 Moong 2.8
It is also the second largest tea-producing state in India, producing 414.08 million kg of tea in 2022–23, accounting for 30.3% of the country's total tea production. In 2022–23, West Bengal produced approximately 1.48 million tonnes of sugarcane and 3.86 million tonnes of fruits. The state is the largest vegetables producing state in India with 26354.61 thousand MT of production in 2020.
West Bengal accounts for nearly 10% of the country's edible oil production. The state produced a total of 2.045 million tonnes of fish in 2022–23 as compared to 1.84 million tonnes during 2021-22 retaining second spot after Andhra Pradesh in fish production. West Bengal produced around 7649.74 thousand tonnes of milk in FY 23–24.
The state is the largest meat producing state in the country (including poultry), producing 1.293 million tonnes of meat in 2023-24.
Industry
State industries are mostly localised in the cities of Durgapur, Asansol, Howrah, Kharagpur and Haldia region. There are up to 10,000 registered factories in the state and the West Bengal state government has opened Shilpa Sathi (শিল্পসাথী), a single window agency in order to provide investors with all kinds of assistance in establishing and running industrial units.Economy of West Bengal @ webindia123.com Suni System (P) Ltd.
Kolkata is noted as one of the major centres for industries including the IT industry. The planned cities of Bidhannagar and New Town, Kolkata are major IT hubs of East India. As of April 2019, Sector V of Bidhannagar had approx 1,500 companies. New Town has emerged as the second IT hub of Kolkata after Salt Lake. The growing number of tech parks makes New Town a preferred destination for IT and ITes in East India. Several Information Technology majors are operational like Ericsson, Accenture, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, ITC Infotech, Mindtree, Adani Labs, British Telecom, TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant etc. New Town also houses Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub.
Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub is an under construction technology hub in the Indian state of West Bengal, consisting of various tech parks, buildings, projects and premises which work on the sectors like IT/ITeS, data centre, E-commerce, IoT, KPO, AI, R&D and Telecom. The hub is projected to be completed in 2025, generating 1,00,000 direct jobs. As of 2022, the total investment in the hub is . It is being built on an area of 250 acres.
FinTech Hub (formerly known as International Financial Hub) is a financial, commercial centre and business district located in New Town. The hub has the presence of a large number of banking, financial companies and legal institutions. Many major companies have their headquarters, offices and training centres operational or under construction. In 2010, inspired by the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai and to turn Kolkata into an international financial centre, the then chief minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and finance minister Asim Dasgupta proposed an International Financial Hub on 100 Acres of land in New Town. The union finance minister of that time, Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of the project on 13 October 2010. The project had a deadline to be completed in five years. In 2017, the project was relaunched as a FinTech hub. The purpose was to develop financial technology industry in West Bengal. In 2020, 23 financial institutions had their offices setup in the hub. The first 10 acres were identified which was afterwards expanded. On 10 September 2021, HIDCO released an online portal for owing plots easily. Up to September 2021, 48 acres were allotted in 70 acres. As of 2022, 28 financial and legal institutions have their offices in FinTech hub.
MSME contributes to a major portion of the GDP of West Bengal. West Bengal has the second highest MSME units in the country after Uttar Pradesh. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 73rd round of survey, West Bengal had 88.67 lakh MSME units (14% of total in India).
There are numerous steel and other heavy engineering plants and production facilities in Durgapur. The centre has established a number of industries in the areas of tea, sugar, chemicals and fertilisers. Natural resources like tea and jute in and nearby parts have made West Bengal a major centre for the jute and tea industries. West Bengal is at the forefront of leather processing and leather goods manufacturing and has around 666 units producing leather and leather related goods. Currently, 22-25% of India's tanning activity is undertaken in Kolkata and its suburbs. Kolkata Leather Complex is a planned leather industrial park at Karaidanga, Bantala near East Kolkata. It is Asia's largest leather complex. Bantala has approximately 500 tanneries. It already has fully operational 500 tanneries and leather goods manufacturing units on 1150 acres of land employing 5 lakh people. The investment has already been to the tune of . In July 2024, it was announced that it will have another 187 tanneries along with 139 footwear units entailing an investment of and generating employment for 2.5 lakh people.
Kharagpur has also numerous industries of various types such as iron works, cement, chemicals, etc. The state's share of total industrial output in India was 9.8% in 1980–81, declining to 5% by 1997–98. However, the service sector has grown at a rate higher than the national rate.
Jangal Sundari Karmanagari is an under construction industrial city complex and township in Jangalmahal, Purulia. Jangal Sundari Karmanagari has projected a potential investment of . has been used for creating basic infrastructures. The industrial city will generate employment for 1.5 lakh people. Major industries include cement, steel, auto component, engineering, MSME clusters, ceramics and electricals.
In Phase I of the project, 1749 acres were allocated and in Phase II, 734 acres were allocated.
Jangal Sundari Karmanagari has received investments from Rashmi Steel (800 acres), Shyam Steel (600 acres), Captain Steel (300 acres), Super Smelter, Maithan Alloys, Vikash Metal and Power Limited. As of March 2023, about 7 thousand people were employed in around 513 acres steel factory, which got an investment of . Shyam Steel is constructing has acquired 600 acres and has started construction (as of March 2023) of a steel plant in 600 acres with an investment of and expected employment of 10,000 people. A cement factory is under construction in 70 acres with an investment of .
Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Titagarh Rail Systems, Texmaco Rail & Engineering and Jupiter Wagons are rolling stock manufacturers located in West Bengal. Titagarh Rail Systems is the second largest freight wagon manufacturer in India. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works is the largest locomotive manufacturer unit in the world, producing 431 locomotives in 2019–20.
The first production unit of Hindustan Cables was set up in 1952 in Rupnarayanpur, in technical collaboration with Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd. for production of paper insulated dry core cables. In 2007 updated and expanded Rupnarayanpur unit, with an installed capacity of 63 LCKM, manufactures polythene insulated jelly filled cables and aerial cables. Facilities for manufacturing 1 million pairs of telephone coiled cords and 1.5 million pieces of computer cords have been set up in the unit. The telephone cords (2 way ovular straight and 4 way ovular extensible etc.) conform to latest specification and cater to Indian market and the computer cords for Computer Industries.
The Steel Authority of India IISCO (Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd) steel-making plant at Kulti was the first such facility in India. It became well known during the 1960s and 1970s, with its company shares being traded on the London Stock Exchange. However, a decade later the company became loss-making until it was revived in 2006 when it merged with the Steel Authority of India. Modernisation at IISCO Steel Plant has helped the city develop at a very rapid pace. The plant's capacity will be raised from 0.4 MT to 2.5 MT of saleable steel, using what will be the biggest blast furnace in the country. As of 2015, the investment for modernisation was the single largest investment in West Bengal till then.
The northern districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar are famous for growing tea and they are exported world-wide for their supreme taste and quality. Many tea processing units are present here which contribute to the economy of the districts.
Semiconductor Fabrication Plant in Kolkata Under a transformative collaboration with the United States, India will get its first-ever national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware in both countries as well as in critical telecommunication networks and electronics. The ambitious India-U.S. joint project was announced following talks between PM Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden in Wilmington on September 21, 2024. The first-ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership was described as a "watershed arrangement", according to a joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks.