The Bihar government is banking on three big-ticket investment proposals from Emami, ITC and Al Sahraa Group – amounting to Rs 12,000 crore in total – for the much-needed impetus for industrial growth in the state.
All efforts are being made to realise these proposals. Sources in the industries department said the three proposals came at the World Food India mart organised in New Delhi earlier this month. Top honchos of the companies interacted with minister Jai Kumar Singh, principal secretary S. Siddharth and other senior officials.
Emami, a Calcutta-based conglomerate sells edible vegetable oil worth around Rs 1,000 crore every year in Bihar and is interested in establishing a manufacturing unit here to capture more market and bring ease to transportation.
Officials in the industries department said the fact that Bihar has an agriculture-based economy with 76 per cent of the population depending on it also ensures that commodities needed for vegetable oil production will always be available to any company wanting to establish a manufacturing unit here.
ITC, another Calcutta-based conglomerate, wants to come to Bihar to set-up an integrated food park that will also include units to produce biscuits, milk products and other products that could be developed through food-processing. It already has manufacturing facilities in Munger where various products – cigarettes, milk products and other edible items – are manufactured.
The biggest proposal has come from the Al Sahraa Group in the UAE, a leading company in the field of transport. “Al Sahraa has shown interest in establishing a logistics park in our state,” Siddharth said. “For that it will need 1,500 acres. We are ready to provide all facilities to them. If they find any difficulty in acquiring land, the government could help them buy it. The project has the potentiality to provide thousands of jobs.”
Industries department officials said the Al Sahraa Group is interested in setting up a logistics park near the proposed Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) stretching from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in Bengal, which will cross through Bihar.
Work on the EDFC has started and is expected to be completed by 2019-20 and the UAE-based group is eager to tap it as it will allow it to stretch its operations from India to South East Asia.
Source: The Telegraph
