PATNA: The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday approved the “Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Package 2025” aimed at attracting industrial investment, particularly large private investments, in the state.
The package includes provisions such as free land, financial incentives and other related concessions to create a conducive atmosphere for the state’s “rapid industrial development”.
The package, which received cabinet approval at its meeting on Tuesday, is part of the “Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy 2016” and will remain in force until 31 March 2026 for investors.
The decision regarding the promotion package is in line with the announcements made by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to grant concessions to industries. It also aligns with the government’s commitment to create one crore employment opportunities in the state over the next five years, Bihar Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said.
While giving details of the main features of the industrial promotion package at a post-cabinet meeting briefing, Chief Secretary Meena said that the state government has decided to “transfer land free of cost to the investors willing to set up industries in Bihar”.
FREE LAND FOR INDUSTRIES
Stating that the land will be transferred at a token amount of ₹1, Meena said that there are three types of schemes from which an investor can choose.
“If an investor makes an investment of ₹100 crore and creates 1,000 direct employment opportunities, the investor will get 10 acres of land from the government free of cost. Those willing to invest ₹1,000 crore will get 25 acres of land depending on the project, whereas if a Fortune 500 company invests in the state, it will get 10 acres of land,” Meena said, while expressing confidence that the move will attract big-ticket investments to the state.
Other investors, who do not opt for any of the above schemes, will also get land at a 50 per cent discount on BIADA’s land rate for setting up industries in the state, said the Chief Secretary. He was accompanied by Development Commissioner Pratyaya Amrit, Industries Department Additional Chief Secretary Mihir Kumar Singh and Cabinet Secretariat Department Additional Chief Secretary S Siddharth during the press conference.
Stating that investors will have to choose from any of the three financial incentive schemes, Chief Secretary Meena said that as per Option I, an investor who gets a term loan from financial institutions will receive interest subvention of up to ₹40 crore plus SGST reimbursement of up to 100 per cent. Option II will give investors “net SGST reimbursement of up to 300 per cent of the approved project cost for 14 years”, whereas Option III will enable investors to avail themselves of a 30 per cent capital subsidy of the total approved project cost.
“It is completely up to the investors as to which option they want to choose from,” the Chief Secretary said, adding that the export incentive has been doubled from ₹20 lakh to ₹40 lakh per year, and the time frame has also been increased to 14 years to boost exports from the state.
Talking about the employment generation incentive, he said that the government will provide ₹5,000 per month per employee besides giving support of up to 300 per cent on account of ESI and EPF expenditure.
For other units, the government will provide ₹2,000 per month per employee as an employment generation incentive, plus 100 per cent support on ESI and EPF, Meena said, and added that ₹20,000 per worker will be given as a skill development incentive.
The package also includes 25 per cent reimbursement of up to ₹1 crore for environmental protection incentive. Additionally, 20 per cent or a maximum amount of ₹6 lakh will be given as a renewable energy usage incentive.
ACQUISITION OF 14,600 ACRES OF LAND APPROVED IN PAST ONE YEAR
The state government has already taken an in-principle decision to set up an industrial area or park in every district of the state, he said, while stating that the government has approved the acquisition of 14,600 acres of land for 32 industrial areas/parks in the past one year, whereas BIADA has acquired 8,000 acres of land since its inception.
“All the industrial areas/parks have either been developed or are being developed near expressway highways or high-speed corridors,” Meena said, emphasising that all these industrial areas are well-connected, having both road and rail connectivity.
“For example, industrial areas in Rohtas and Aurangabad are close to the Varanasi-Kolkata expressway, while the industrial area in Darbhanga is located near the Amas-Darbhanga expressway. Similarly, the industrial area in Purnea is located near the Patna-Purnea expressway,” he added.
In yet another significant decision, a “Fin Tech City” will be developed adjacent to a plot of the Multi-Modal Logistic Park (MMLP) at Fatuha circle in Patna district, Chief Secretary said, adding that the Fin Tech City will be developed on the lines of GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) located between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
The cabinet sanctioned ₹408.81 crore for the acquisition of 242 acres of land for the Fin Tech City. The Infrastructure Development Authority, Patna, will acquire the land.
The development of Fin Tech City will help in bringing containerised cargo directly to Patna from ports, and from Patna, it will be further exported to other countries, Meena said.
LAND ACQUISITION FOR EXPANSION OF INDUSTRIAL AREA
In order to expand the industrial area in different districts, the Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA), Patna, will acquire a total of 1,927.5 acres of land worth ₹797.1 crore in six districts: Bhojpur, Sheikhpura, Rohtas, Sheohar, Darbhanga and Purnea.
The district-wise break-up of land acquisition is as follows: 249.48 acres of land will be acquired at a cost of ₹52.62 crore in Bhojpur district; 250.06 acres of land at ₹42.16 crore in Sheikhpura; 492.85 acres of land at ₹154.07 crore in Rohtas; 270.01 acres of land at ₹105.27 crore in Sheohar; 385.45 acres of land at ₹376.07 crore in Darbhanga; and 279.65 acres of land at ₹66.91 crore in Purnea district.
A total of 26 decisions, including the industrial investment promotion package, were taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.