Saturday, June 06, 2009

BIA urges FM to grant special category status to Bihar

PATNA: In a pre-budget memorandum to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Bihar Industries Association (BIA) has sought a special category
status for Bihar so that the state could attract private investments
worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore through incentives.

BIA president K P Jhunjhunwala said Bihar is not able to compete with other states in attracting investment and so it needed the special category status on the pattern of North-Eastern states to kickstart development through tax/fiscal incentives to attract investment.

It also sought support to the state in infrastructural development on the basis of which outside investment can be attracted. The BIA sought provision of coal linkage by the central government to the private investors whose proposals for establishing power plants in Bihar had been approved by the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB).

The BIA urged the FM to abolish RBI's reverse repo rate so that the funds available to the banks after reduction in cash reserve ratio (CRR) was not parked by them in RBI.

The BIA added that the FM should consider to raise money through disinvestment to lessen the fiscal deficit instead of hike in taxation.

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