People of the country knew Bihar mostly as badland. The state was infamous for kidnapping industry in last 15 years but the old days have gone past and Bihar is now on the path of development under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar. The NDA government in Bihar is working hard to change the face of state and investors have now started exploring the possibilities of investment in state.

The leading personalities of corporate world such as Mukesh Ambani, Anand Mahindra, Kumar Manglam Birla, Priya Paul and K V Kamath and others are expecting to become a partner in the state’s economic growth.

Nitish Kumar is looking firm to change the image of Bihar and hosted several events where corporate giants discussed and came out with many ideas to further encourage the state government.

The year 2007 had begun with the ‘Global Meet for a Resurgent Bihar’ that was inaugurated by the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. A meeting of Bihar Development and Investment Promotion Council, Mirror Conference and International Seminar on Poverty followed it.

According to the report, Bihar government also drafted its own ‘Approach Paper’ to the 11th Five-Year Plan. The government formed ‘Abiding Initiative’ to bring groups of 12 sector under one sector. Experts like Govind Rao, Y S Rajan, Anil Sadgopal, Analjit Singh, P K Pachauri, Suman Berry and Priya Paul headed each group.

The group has also given approval to several proposals including eight super-specialty hospitals, two engineering colleges, one steel plant, four power plants, 21 sugar industries and 14 mega projects across the state. The best part of the story was that almost every corporate personality expressed his or her confidence in the change of climate in state.

They openly discussed about their intention to invest in Bihar to put the state on the path of development. President Kalam had said:

India needs a developed Bihar which, more than any other state, has potential to achieve all the indexes.

Lord Meghnad Desai praised Bihar government for the initiatives and said that Bihar has arrived at a crucial stage for writing its turnaround saga. Anand Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra also accepted that the process of a radical transformation and silent revolution has been started in state and said several projects will take place very shortly.

State Planning Board deputy chairman N K Singh has said that the state government has taken several initiatives in the year 2007 and the impact of the efforts can only be evaluated in three spheres.

According to him, at the first step the tangible investment arrives in state. In second sphere, enhanced awareness of investment prospects will be needed and in third sphere, the problems of Bihar have caught the national attention.

The state has received several investment proposals in 2007, particularly in sugar sector and the corporate giants such as Reliance, Bharti, Tata Chemicals, Indian Oil Corporation have given indication to invest in the state.

Nitish Kumar said that the nation would see the transformation after two years from now. ‘We have successfully established Bihar as brand and convinced the investors of a conducive atmosphere for investment in the state,’ he added.