According to the auditor, the state government transferred 1,326.93 acres of land to WBIDCL in August 2017 for industrial development
Kolkata: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged a loss of ₹12.86 crore to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited (WBIDCL) over the allotment of land to Instakart Services, the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Flipkart, at the Haringhata Industrial Park in Nadia district.
In its 2024 report on Public Sector Undertakings for the period ending March 31, 2023, the CAG said WBIDCL deviated from its own pricing policy by calculating the base price of the land without excluding water bodies that were not available for industrial development.
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The report, tabled in the West Bengal Assembly on Friday by the BJP government, noted that the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) administration had not presented CAG reports covering four financial years up to 2024-25.
According to the auditor, the state government transferred 1,326.93 acres of land to WBIDCL in August 2017 for industrial development. The corporation subsequently acquired 358.19 acres at Haringhata for ₹206.73 crore and launched the industrial park project in phases.
In August 2018, WBIDCL invited expressions of interest from investors, fixing the lease premium at ₹63.49 lakh per acre for a 99-year lease on an "as is where is" basis.
The following month, Instakart sought 107.35 acres to establish a regional distribution centre with a proposed investment of ₹991 crore. The proposal received approval from the WBIDCL board in October 2018 and the state Cabinet's Standing Committee on Industry in December that year.
The corporation allotted 109.12 acres to Instakart in phases between 2019 and 2020 for a total lease premium of ₹69.23 crore, with a 99-year lease deed executed in February 2021.
However, the CAG found that the industrial park's layout included 55.89 acres of water bodies, reducing the actual developable area to 302.299 acres. Under WBIDCL's own pricing policy, the base price should have been calculated using only the allocable land, along with acquisition costs and administrative charges.
Based on this formula, the auditor calculated that the correct base price should have been ₹75.23 lakh per acre, instead of ₹63.49 lakh per acre charged by the corporation.
As a result, the lease premium payable by Instakart should have been ₹82.09 crore, leaving a shortfall of ₹12.86 crore, the report said.
Responding to the audit observations, the state government said in May 2023 that WBIDCL's board had approved the land price after detailed deliberations and that the Cabinet had also cleared the allotment.
The CAG rejected the explanation, stating that it failed to justify why the corporation had departed from its own pricing policy. It reiterated that the water bodies could not be treated as developable land, citing provisions of the **West Bengal Inland Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1993, which restrict the filling of water bodies without prior government approval, as well as a 2019 Supreme Court order aimed at protecting local water bodies.
The Haringhata facility, inaugurated in 2022, is Flipkart's largest fulfilment centre in India and forms a key part of the company's logistics network in eastern India.
(PTI)
Published: 26 Jul 2026, 05:49 pm IST
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