Mamata wants Hong Kong style 'financial district' in Goa

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may be opposed to special economic zones (SEZ) as well as foreign investment in civil aviation and retail, but her party Trinamool Congress now wants to carve out a 'financial district' in faraway Goa.

The Trinamool, in its election manifesto released ahead of the March 3 Goa polls, states that they want to make the beach tourism state into a banking hub on the lines of Hong Kong.

"Invite international banks and financial institutions to set up business in Goa (Hong Kong model)," the manifesto released by the Trinamool's state president Wilfred de Souza says, underlining the party's pitch to create a 'financial district' in Goa, to facilitate the banking hub dream.

Speaking to the media, de Souza said the creation of a financial district here and turning Goa into a banking paradise on the lines of Hong Kong was in sync with Banerjee's economic policies.

"It is in sync with Mamata Banerjee's policies," de Souza said.

Banerjee has in the recent past been in the news for opposing foreign investment in civil aviation and retail sector. Her opposition to Tata's Nano manufacturing project in Singur, West Bengal over forcible acquisition of farmlands for industrial development, resulted in the manufacturing hub of India's smallest car being shifted to Gujarat.

The Trinamool election manifesto also talks of establishing a stock exchange in Goa, which the party envisions as a financial services hub.