The ice that had come to define a relationship, and by consequence Bengal’s tryst with industry, appears to have thawed.

From the dais of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) on Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee revealed that she has had a telephone conversation with Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran on the eve of the event, the first publicly known instance of the two entities touching base since she became chief minister 14 years ago.

Mamata’s anti-land acquisition movement in Singur had led the Tatas to shift the Nano project out of Bengal in 2008.

Ratan Tata, who had said “I hope there is a bad M and a good M” after the project was relocated to Gujarat, passed away in October last year.

At the business summit on Wednesday, Mamata said Chandrasekaran had promised to visit the city “soon” to discuss investment proposals, besides responding “positively” to her proposal of starting a direct flight to a destination in Europe from Calcutta.

“I spoke to Mr Chandrasekaran last night. He was supposed to come here but could not make it because of some preoccupation,” the chief minister said at the inauguration of the eighth edition of the BGBS.

“He told me that the group is keen on coming to Bengal. This time, a large contingent of senior officials from various Tata companies has come to Calcutta to take part in the summit,” Mamata told reporters on the sidelines of the event.

Although the $165-billion Tata group has continued with its businesses in Bengal through TCS, Tata Steel and Tata Hitachi and expanded some activities, it has steered clear of making fresh bets, especially those requiring the acquisition of large tracts of land, since the 2008 fiasco.

“He (Chandrasekaran) has told me that he will visit Calcutta soon and discuss possibilities of further investments in Bengal,” Mamata said on Wednesday, later adding that the meeting would take place at a mutually convenient time.

Chandrasekaran attended a Bengal business summit in January 2017 as the CEO of TCS before he took over as the chairman of Tata Sons, the main holding company of Tata Group.

However, no Tata group chairman has ever attended a Bengal investment summit promoted by Mamata during the Trinamool regime. The group has opted for low-key participation at Mamata’s business jamborees through company executives. There were at least two senior Tata executives present on Wednesday as part of the CII’s national council meet, which took place on the sidelines of the BGBS.

There has also been a change of guard at the Tata Trusts, which own 66 per cent of Tata Sons. Ratan’s half-brother Noel Tata is helming the Trusts since October last year.

Towards the end of her speech, Mamata broached the flight issue. “I asked him (Chandrasekaran), can we get a direct flight from Calcutta to Europe? He didn’t say no…. His voice was very positive,” she said.

Later when she was asked about the possibility of Air India launching a direct flight to a European destination, she said: “They are in the process of getting more aircraft…. I hope they will consider our proposal.”

The Tata group acquired Air India in January 2022 and has since consolidated the full-service airline by merging Vistara with it last November.

Direct flight connectivity to Europe and the US has been on the top of Mamata’s agenda. Last November, the Bengal Assembly unanimously passed a motion that called for the intervention of the central government to ensure that international and domestic airlines operate direct flights from Calcutta to different cities in Europe and the US.

Lufthansa had flights thrice a week between Calcutta and Frankfurt, which was withdrawn in 2012. Earlier, British Airways had withdrawn its direct flight to London because of low yields. Air India also used to operate a flight between Calcutta and London. “Now if direct flight links with Europe are established following the chief minister’s intervention, it will be good for Brand Bengal and the state’s industrial prospects,” said a source in the industries department.

On Day One of the BGBS, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, JSW group chief Sajjan Jindal and senior diplomats from 26 countries were in attendance. Investment proposals worth at least ₹91,000 crore were made.

Jindal’s announcement of investing ₹16,000 crore in two 800MW thermal power projects was cited by the Bengal government as a high point. JSW also showed keenness to be a partner in Bengal’s only greenfield airport at Andal. Ambani promised to pump in about ₹50,000 crore over the next five years. He said an international cable landing station at Digha and an AI-ready data centre at Rajarhat would be ready within a year.

The chief minister announced the setting up of an industry synergy committee under the chief secretary to clear all issues related to industrial proposals.

“This was a felt need.... The committee will meet every two weeks to take stock of the situation and provide all the solutions to problems faced by industry. The best thing about it is it will have the heads of the relevant departments, which would facilitate faster addressing of problems,” chief secretary Manoj Pant told this newspaper.