MUMBAI, Aug 27: India’s most powerful businessman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday condemned protests against a plant building the world’s cheapest car, saying they hurt the country’s ability to attract needed investment.

Ambani, chairman of giant Reliance Industries Ltd, extended support to fellow industrialist Ratan Tata, who last week warned he would move the factory building the “Nano” car out of West Bengal state if the protests continued.

“The Nano project is an unique and innovative initiative which will establish India’s position as a small car hub,” Ambani, whose Reliance Industries is India’s largest private sector company, said in a statement.

“This unrest will be counter-productive for the country’s economic growth, its global image as well as our ability to attract investments from across the world.”

Ambani’s statement came as protesters blocked a key highway in West Bengal for a fourth day, stranding thousands of trucks loaded with perishable goods, and pushing up food prices in Kolkata.

Protesters have staged months of violent demonstrations against the acquisition of farmland for the project by the state government, which has been energetically wooing industry to set up shop in the impoverished state.

The walls of the plant are plastered with warnings to workers to leave or “face the fatal consequences.”

Head of the regional opposition Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee, who is leading the demonstrations, has said the protests will continue until the government agrees to hand back hundreds of acres of factory land to farmers.

Indian media reports say Tata Motors, part of the sprawling Tata Group, has given the state’s Marxist government two weeks to control the situation at the Singur plant on the outskirts of Kolkata.

Tata Motors has already invested $350 million in the project to make the 2,500-dollar four-door car, billed as the world’s cheapest.

“Indian industry must be encouraged to make such large investments in order to build the country’s competitiveness as well as support job creation,” Ambani said.—AFP