Nitish plans to tap investment from the ‘Bihar diaspora’

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 12: The Bihar government is working on a network of people from Bihar living in other states or outside the country to woo investment. It wants them to carry back the “positive image” of their native place when they go back after their holidays.

The state government is planning a two-pronged strategy to put a “resurgent Bihar” on the fast track. It will host a global investors meet in January next year, besides giving emphasis to areas where NRIs are possibly interested in putting their money. Bihar Foundation, an agency to be put in place by the government, will coordinate such efforts.


“We are planning a 500-member meet of global investors in January. Efforts are on to get the participants at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held in January to evince an interest in the state,” Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said. The Deputy CM has already visited Britain, Canada and Italy to woo investors.

Modi knows it’s not an easy task, considering many states have better NRI investment-friendly policies plus Bihar has a reputation of being a “badly-governed” state. “But we are putting our best foot forward. Like most investment-friendly states we have a single window system for clearance, our infrastructure policy is akin to that of Andhra Pradesh,” he said, adding that the state government will also soon announce the new policy for hotel industry and Information Technology. The state government is also planning to project education and healthcare as attractive investment proposals for the NRIs.