‘Bihar faces problem of perception despite good infra & surplus water’
Patna:has the problem of in convincing big business houses and global firms to come and invest in the state, even as the government has been trying to change it and succeeding gradually, said Sandeep Poundrik, the additional chief secretary of the department of industries, on Monday.
In an exclusive chat with TOI ahead of ‘Bihar Business Connect 2023 – A Global Investors’ Summit’ to be held in Patna on December 13-14, Poundrik said the department will showcase Bihar as an attractive and next investment destination with industrial infrastructure, manpower and government support second to none in the country.
“Once big business houses start setting up industries in the state, others will follow,” he said, adding Britannia has set up a Rs 250-crore factory in Bihta and Adani Group has started the process and is awaiting environment clearance for cement factories in Nawada and Muzaffarpur.
“Market is our biggest strength. We have the best industrial policy, improved infrastructure and huge market scope. Bihar has over 13 crore people and if we add the population of neighbouring Nepal, Jharkhand, eastern UP and West Bengal, it comes to around 40 crore, which is almost one-third of the total market area of India,” he said to drive home his point why Bihar is the future investment destination.
“No other state has the kind of young workers profile, availability of surplus water and raw materials that we have. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha have a huge potential and market, and these states are going to be the next hub of the manufacturing sector, as the southern states are already facing a 15 to 20% next generation labour shortage,” he said.
Since some of the big business houses and global firms in textile and IT sectors are likely to take part in the Patna meet as the department has invited 400 companies from outside and 200 from the state, Poundrik candidly said IT is the challenge area for Bihar. “We are developing a mega food park at Motipur in Muzaffarpur and the Centre has also approved a leather park there. We are developing common facilities for the industries by providing interest subvention and state GST reimbursement as part of the industrial policy 2016 incentives, besides 15% additional capital subsidy, employment subsidy up to Rs 5,000 per employee and power subsidy of Rs 2 per unit for textile and leather sector, which is our priority area,” he said.
Admitting that the logistics network is lacking in Bihar, Poundrik said the government will develop multimodal parks to reduce the cost of transportation.
When asked about the Bihta dry port developed in 2013, the senior IAS officer said the state needs more such ports.
Explaining the ground reality of investments and industries in Bihar, Poundrik said the government has invested over Rs 1,300 crore in the last one year on developing industrial areas in the state.
“We have a unique offer of ‘Plug & Play’ in industrial sheds developed in 24 lakh square feet area for high priority textile, food processing and leather industries. The government has provided 1,200 machines, including 400 to women entrepreneurs, in textile clusters developed in Muzaffarpur in the last one year. We have seven ethanol plants and seven others are being constructed. No other state has so many ethanol plants. An international firm in the food processing business will set up its unit in Hajipur,” he said.
When asked about any plan for the revival and strengthening of the Bhagalpur silk industry, Poundrik said the Handloom and Sericulture Directorate is working on it. “There is a problem with the availability of silk threads and the market. The focus area is the branding and marketing of the silk products produced by the weavers,” he said.
Some of the top firms likely to participate in the global summit are HCL Tech, AMD, Tiger Analytics, Patanjali, Britannia, Coke, Richa Global, Shahi Exports and Banswara Syntex Limited, he added.
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