The finance minister hailed Credai, the apex body of real estate developers, for choosing Kolkata for its maga event.
| Photo Credit:
Swapan Mahapatra
West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta on Friday urged organised realtors to play a larger role in the development of the State’s real estate sector, alleging that under previous dispensations the sector was left in hands of “sharks” with political connections.
Dasgupta emphasised the need for scrapping certain laws, such as the urban land ceiling act, which have so far been “impediments to development”.
Real estate business
“The real estate business in Kolkata has been a scandal, and I choose that word deliberately because it has been left in the hands of sharks with political connections who have made a fortune by short-changing people. We need to get the organised sector into West Bengal and Kolkata so that a degree of order and regulation and accountability can be brought into this, which is why I feel all of you are needed because you represent the organised force. You’re not the standalone sharks,” the minister said during his speech at the inaugural session of NATCON 2026, organised by Credai.
“We have certain laws which date back to the 70s, which the rest of India has cracked, but we, for reasons left unsaid, didn’t. One of them is something called the Urban Land Ceiling Act. It is an impediment and a deterrent to development. It has to go. Secondly, barga tenancy… it’s not an urban issue; it’s a rural issue,” Dasgupta said.
Criticising the 34-year Left rule and 15-year Trinamool Congress dispensation, he said, “For a very long time, Kolkata used to boast that it had a very rich past but a very gloomy present. Now, we can hope that we can at least have a far more buoyant and optimistic future. For nearly 50 years, we unfortunately fell off the map of India. Now we are back. I promise you, we are back, and we will make up.”
Hailing Credai
The finance minister hailed Credai, the apex body of real estate developers, for choosing Kolkata for its maga event.
“Real estate is entering a phase where technology and innovation will influence every part of the business, from how we understand customers and market projects to how we plan, build and operate them. AI, in particular, has the potential to enable better decision-making, improve efficiencies and create more responsive businesses. For the industry, the opportunity is not simply to adopt new technologies but to use them meaningfully to build a more productive, transparent and future-ready sector,” said Shekhar Patel, president, Credai.
Published on October 2, 2026
