Bihar, a land locked state, is located in the eastern part of the country. It is bounded by Nepal in the north, Jharkhand in the south, Uttar Pradesh in the west and West Bengal in the east. Since Bihar falls in the plane of the Ganga basin, land put to agriculture use is high in the state.
The state enjoys a proximity to the markets of eastern and northern India. Further, it facilitates easy access to ports including Kolkata and Haldia and raw materials and minerals from the neighbouring states.
Noteworthy reasons for investments in Bihar include:
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The state provides ample investment opportunities in sectors including agro-based industry, food processing, sugar, power, leather, manufacturing and tourism. It also offers a wide range of incentives under various policies such as the Industrial Incentive Policy 2011, Food Processing Policy, Bihar Policy for Promotion of New and Renewable Energy Sources 2011 etc. to promote these sectors.
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Elite educational institutes such as the National Institute of Technology (NIT), National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) provide skilled manpower to industries. In addition, the state has a large pool of industrial labour.
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Bihar has witnessed a robust economic growth of approximately 10.6 percent (CAGR) between 2007-08 to 2012-13. This is higher the CAGR of 7.1 percent posted by the Indian economy during the same period.1 This has put the state to the number one position in terms of economic growth among all states in India.
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The State Government has created a State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) to make investing in the state hassle-free. The SIPB acts as the Single Window Agency for approvals and clearances for setting up of new units in the state.
This report presents an analysis of the Investment Climate in Bihar.