A general strike, especially on issues, which may hinder economic reform measures by the Union Government, is always unwarranted, more so when economic indicators are shaky. The Chamber compliments the CM for declaring West Bengal a “No Bandh” State. Yet, the State, which covers almost 7% of the country’s GDP with one of the nation’s highest population densities, will suffer because of the all-India nature of the strike.
According to Bengal Chamber’s conservative estimates, because of the strike, the net financial industrial loss of the State would be between Rs 1470 crore and Rs 1625 crore. It is almost 2.5% of a conservative NSDP of around Rs 6.5 lakh (2013/14 (A)) crore and 5% of the net debt stock of around Rs 2.9 lakh crore