Haldia is a city and a municipality in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a major seaport located approximately 50 kilometers southwest of Calcutta near the mouth of the Hooghly River, one of the distributaries of the Ganges.

Haldia is being developed as a major trade port for Calcutta, intended mainly for bulk cargoes. The population (2001) is 170,695.

Haldia as a city is a modern one and it is growing very fast. The Haldia Township is bordered by the Haldi River an offshoot of the Ganges River.

Haldia is also a base of Indian Coast Guard. There is a hover-port to house two of the six hovercrafts belonging to the Indian Coast Guard.

Haldia Dock :

Commissioned under the Kolkata Port Trust in 1977, Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) is a comprehensive system of composite cargo handling facilities with particular emphasis on bulk cargo. The port has been a catalyst in emergence of Haldia as the industrial hub of West Bengal and its sustained growth had put Kolkata Port Trust in the 4th rank among major Indian ports in the year 1999-2000. The port now handles annually about 21 million tones of traffic, which is almost two times of that a Kolkata Port. This includes 15.89 million tones of import and 4.80 tones of export. Haldia Port currently has three Oil Jetties with and overall capacity of 16 million tones to handle crude POL products. Haldia Dock is not only the main gateway to the industrial hub of Haldia city, but also the entire state of West Bengal and India as well.

Consequent upon the policy of decentralization of Industries of the West Bengal Government, Haldia Industrial Complex came into existence through rigorous and efficient industrial planning. Industrial prosperity of the region was more enhanced as Haldia grew into a satellite port of Kolkata. In terms of cargo handling and annual growth it has achieved more than the national average. Haldia acts as an auxiliary port of the Kolkata port, thereby serving the dual purpose of releasing the pressure of Kolkata port as well as the over crowded Kolkata city.

Raw materials in all their varied forms are fundamental to the initiation and sustenance of any industry. Industrialists here find opportunities for procuring raw materials from the local fertile agricultural farms, the Chotonagpur mines and forests and the local waterbodies and nearby Bay. Coal, iron-ore, copper, manganese etc are available in the hinterland of Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Burdwan. Besides raw materials of foreign sources are also available through the Haldia port.. Development of Kolaghat thermal power station has ensured the necessary power supply to this industrial belt. Even good quality of water supply has been taken care of through construction of pumphouses, reservoir and pipeline network..For setting up of large scale industrial units plenty of vacant land is available as Haldia is a newly developing area. Large number of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour for the industries can be easily obtained from the surrounding areas.

A well-knit network of roads and railways that effectively serves different parts of downtown and the industrial area connects Haldia. The industrial belt is well connected with navigable rivers and canals. Fast water transport services make it possible to reach Haldia from Calcutta in no time. Latest telecom infrastructure and social infrastructure exist to support present industries and population of half a million people in the Haldia Development Authority area. Other facilities like banking, insurance, warehousing, Trained and skilled manpower etc are gaining strength from time to time.

The State Government has come forward to set up special monitoring cells for giving approval to the project proposals, arrangement of loans etc. Haldia is the ideal place for investment. Private sector investments have given a boost to the economic development of the industrial complex.

Connectivity:

Haldia industrial region is mainly served by all the three modes of surface transport, namely road, rail and water.. Besides the city also provides the latest telecom facilities and other information highways to reach out to the world instantaneously.

Telecommunication:

For instantaneous communication to any part of the globe, Haldia port city is well equipped with the latest telecom facilities provided by BSNL, Reliance etc. and postal services. The conventional cable networks have already given way to the optical fibres. Other modern means of communication such as Internet and mobile telecommunication have turned into reality. Haldia Development Authority assists the entrepreneurs in obtaining telecom ,telex and fax connections on a priority basis.
    Haldia is now become a centre for development of West Bengal. The industrial city has several factories like ,South Asian Petrochemicals Limited,Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Exide, Shaw Wallace, Tata Chemicals, Petrochemical complex (Haldia Petrochemical) and Hindustan Lever, in addition to various light industries. The port has attracted factories of foreign companies, like Mitsubishi Chemical Company (MCC). A large number of companies are also being set up now, Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI), primarily being ancillary industries to the Haldia Petrochemicals. The Haldia Petrochemicals is the second largest project of such .