Other States - Bihar   

Bihar approves investment worth over 40,000 crore

Patna: The Bihar Government has approved investment proposals worth over Rs. 40,000 crore, including many by big corporate entities, but there are still hurdles like poor infrastructure and land acquisition, according to the State’s latest economic survey.

Although big firms have evinced interest in investing in the State with 115 proposals worth Rs. 40,720 crore okayed by State Investment Promotion Board, there are hiccups like land acquisition and poor infrastructure in terms of power and communication, the survey said.

Industrial sickness is another major problem as out of 262 large and medium units, 35 are closed. In the SSI sector, however, out of 72,600 units, 52,000 are functional.

According to the survey, the small scale industries are making a big contribution to Bihar’s economic upsurge, apparently more than big and medium industries. Acknowledging the great role of SSIs in propping up Bihar’s economic stride, the survey said, “The share of tiny industrial units among SSIs, both registered and unregistered, is as high as 99 per cent.”

On the performance of large and medium-scale industries vis-a-vis SSIs, it said there are only 262 large and medium units in the State with concentration only in pockets of Patna, Tirhut and Magadh divisions.

SSI units, on the other hand, have a higher visibility and “small/artisan-based industries” are spread across the State generating 5.5 lakh man-days in the current fiscal till December, it noted.

The findings indicate that the State government should give more thrust to SSI sector, providing facilities and tax sops to boost industrial production, said an expert.

The survey said, although Bihar has been able to generate good revenue from litchi export last year, the performance of agro-based units in has not been impressive.

“There is, however, a big potential in agro-based industry,” it added.

Interestingly, unregistered units dominate the export sector in the State. Of the 1,675 export units functional, only 86 are registered.

The gross export amounts to Rs 25.30 crore, which is 0.6 per cent of the gross output of Rs 3,703 crore. -- PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Bihar approves investment worth over 40,000 crore
Man lynched for shooting child

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu