There has been no rush to invest in Bihar after the improved environment in Bihar. However small investments do trickle in. The most recent news on this in Economic Times is that Britannia industries will setup a bakery unit in Bihar at a cost of about Rs. 50-60 crores and follow it up with similar factories in Orissa, Karnataka and some place in Western India.
A review of recent investment proposals shows that most of the larger investments (investments more than Rs. 100 crores) proposals are in power production and distilleries. There are many smaller investment in Rice mills, etc which are below Rs. 10 crore investments, mostly 1-5 crores. I guess once we have more power generation capacity complemented by these smaller investments, we will be able to attract more larger investments.
However, even though these investment proposals come in, the CM/Cabinet are taking a long time to approve these proposals. Shouldn't the Cabinet or the CM wherever necessary, give utmost priority to clearing proposals quickly. I am not saying that the due delligence made in approving these projects be diluted ; what I am saying is that the focus should be to complete the due dilligence of these projects quickly.
For example when I look at the list of all SIPB (State Investment Promotion Board) approved projects list , I am surprised that many of these project proposals from 2009 / 10 have not been cleared by the CM / Bihar Cabinet. Now I do not know if all these proposal require the CM / the Bihar Cabinet's approval but from the looks of it, they do.
All the proposals cleared by the SIPB from January 2011 have not received the Bihar CM/Cabinet approval. I can understand that for Thermal power plants there are problems of coal linkages and water supply. However what about the other projects like a steel rolling mill, a ketchup plant, Coca Cola plant, maize processing unit, flour mill, etc . Why are they taking time to be cleared. If they can't be cleared then they should be rejected. Why leave them open after SIPB approval? Nitish Kumar ji, where are the delays? Why is it taking so much time?
Here is the list of large proposals (> Rs. 100 Crores) that have been cleared by the SIPB in 2011 but have not been cleared by the Cabinet / CM.
| Sr. No. | Company Name | Proposal | Investment (Rs. In Crores) | Direct Employment |
1 | M/S Casecade Power Ltd, Lakhisarai. | Proposal for establishment of 1320 (2x660) MW coal based Thermal Power Plant at Lakhisarai District in Bihar. | 8343.50 | 400 |
2 | M/S The West Coast Paper Mills Ltd, Karnataka. | Proposal for establishment of one Lakh MT per year capacity Duplex Board unit in first phase at Dalmia Nagar, Rohtas | 350.00 | 500 |
3 | M/S Era Infra Engineering Ltd, New Delhi. | Proposal for establishment of 2640 (4x660) MW coal based Thermal Power Plant at Rajauli, Nawada and 1320 (2x660) MW coal based Thermal Power Plant at Pirpainti, Bhagalpur. | 14800.00 7374.00 | 700 350 |
4 | M/S Winsome International Ltd, Samastipur ( Unit of M/S Rameshwara Jute Mills) | Proposal for establishment of 35 MT per day capacity Jute Processing Unit, 40 MT per day capacity Corn Flakes manufacturing unit and establishment of Marketing Complex at Dharmpur, Samastipur. | 160.00 | 155 |
5 | M/S Dalmia Power Ltd, New Delhi. | Proposal for establishment of 1320 (2x660) MW coal based Thermal Power Plant at Dona, Banka. | 7960.00 | 1500 |
6 | M/S Sravanthi Infratech Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon, Haryana. | Proposal for establishment of 450 MW gas based Power Plant at Dehri-On-Sone, Rohtas. | 1620.00 | 90 |
7 | M/S Moser Baer Power and Infrastructures Ltd, New Delhi. | Proposal for establishment of 1980 MW Coal based Thermal Power Plant at Morma, Lakhisarai. | 11000.00 | 2000 |
8 | M/S Chandigarh Distillers and Bottlers Ltd, Chandigarh. | Proposal for establishment of 330 Kilo Liter per day capacity ENA, IMFL, Country Liquor, RS, IND Alcohol, DNS, Ethanol Absolute Alcohol production unit at Patna / Vaishali. | 140.50 | 140 |
9 | M/S United Breweries Ltd, Bangalore, Karnataka (U B Group) | Proposal for establishment of 10 lac Hecto Liter per year capacity Beer production unit at Kopakala, Naubatpur, Patna. | 200.00 | 294 |
I think that for attracting more investments in all other areas and more larger investments, it is important that the proposals are cleared fast. Infact the government should setup a process such that the proposals have to be cleared within a specified period of time (maybe 3 or 6 months , or as deemed to be necessary) and the necessary officers including minister's in the proposal evaluation chain be held accountable for delays and their salary payments / incentives / promotions be linked to it. Further any proposal that has not got evaluated in that period of time, say 6 months , then the proposal should be automatically rejected and the proposal come for immediate hearing with the CM and the relevant minister. All people who have defaulted should be effectively penalized including suspension when 3 proposals default in a space of one year.
Bihar's growth is linked to investments in the agriculture and industrial segments. We have to facilitate proper investments in optimal periods of time so that Bihar and Bihar's people prosper. The GDP growth in the last 5-6 years were primarily fuelled by road construction and government spending, but will the GDP continue to grow and will more and more people start to prosper without the investments that are required to be made....!!!
Nitish ji and all Bihar Government ministers and officials : This needs serious attention... Please do what is good for Bihar.
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