'Kolkata's decline has…': Navam Capital MD flags Bengal's underused assets, talent flight

Navam Capital Managing Director Rajeev Mantri on Saturday said “Kolkata’s decline has been totally unnecessary”, arguing the city has “unlimited potential” but has suffered due to decades of economic setbacks.

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Mantri said Kolkata has “some of the best human capital on the planet”, citing engineers, doctors, scientists, and finance professionals trained in the city but now working elsewhere. “GCCs and startups across India are heavily staffed with Bengal’s talent,” he wrote on X.

He also pointed to the city’s geography and infrastructure gaps, describing Kolkata’s riverfront as “unique and wonderful” but “massively underdeveloped and underutilised”.

Mantri said Kolkata’s proximity to South East and East Asian economies offers an advantage, but added that “successive parties have worked hard only to devastate and loot, they did nothing at all to bring new industries into the state and expand regional trade.”

“Kolkata’s decline has been totally unnecessary,” he wrote.

Calling for policy and governance changes, Mantri said that with “border security, law and order, infrastructure investment and the right set of pro-market policies”, the city “can blossom again, and rebuild itself.” He added, “There is no reason New Town cannot be the next Whitefield of Bangalore.”

“I have no doubt Kolkata can bounce back much faster than most people think because of the innate assets Kolkata is blessed with,” he said, concluding with: 

“May the 4th of May bring gales of change and new opportunities!”

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Mantri’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the banks of the Hooghly river in Kolkata during the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections.

Sharing images on the social media platform X, Mr Modi described the river as central to the state’s identity. “For every Bengali, the Ganga occupies a very special place. One can say that the Ganga flows through the soul of Bengal,” he wrote, adding that he spent time on the banks to express gratitude to Maa Ganga.

The first phase of voting in the state took place on 23 April, with the second and final phase scheduled for 29 April. Results will be announced on 4 May.