Top 10 Industrialists of Bihar: Success Stories, Business Ideas, and Future Vision
Top 10 Industrialists of Bihar: Success Stories, Business Ideas, and Future Vision Read More »
Industrialists of Bihar Awakening Bihar is going through its biggest economic metamorphosis in a century and a half, and a host of business concepts are taking shape. Bihar’s problems for decades have been: poverty, flood susceptibility, and not being industrialized. Presently, it is one of the fastest growing state economies and it is being promoted in a direction of food processing, agri-industrialisation, pharmaceuticals, light manufacturing, and construction of infrastructure. Bihar’s per capita income has seen a lot of improvement in the state due to sustained focus of the government and the commitment made by the Prime Minister for the development of the state’s infrastructure has been a huge boost to the increased interest in investment in the state. Bihar’s key strength lies in its scale – it is the third most populous state in India, and the population is young, both meaning a consumer market and a source of labour for manufacturing. The state is the top producer of vegetables in India, 2nd largest lychee producer in the country and a major contributor of maize, wheat and fish to national supply chains. These agricultural surpluses provide good feedstock for food processing industrial investments. This article talks about Bihar’s 10 industrialists, their contribution and future plans. IBEF Bihar Report offers an up-to-date sector analysis with respect to State data. Why Bihar Is an Emerging Industrial Opportunity There are a number of factors that are driving Bihar’s industrialization. Megaprojects are first of all, massive investments in infrastructure – a commitment by the Union government of over Rs. 58,900 crores of infrastructure investments for Bihar. The connectivity between inter-district and inter-state is drastically enhanced with the six national highway corridors, expressway projects like Patna-Purnia Expressway and Kosi River Bridge project. Second, the food processing opportunity: The vegetable, maize, makhana, lychee and fisheries surpluses in Bihar are almost entirely processed outside the state, providing an enormous opportunity for investment in the food processing sector within Bihar. Third, demographic dividend: Bihar’s youth population will have higher education levels, leading to skilled workforce which will be more preferred by labour-intensive manufacturing. The Ministry of MSME has a proactive approach to the development of the MSME sector and has been actively promoting the development of Bihar’s food processing, handloom, and light manufacturing sector. The Nalanda Agri-Business School has done research on the agricultural value chains in Bihar and found that the value of the chains is over Rs. The annual processing opportunity is 50,000 crore which is being exported to other states for value addition. The essence of Bihar’s future generation of industrial entrepreneurs is to capture a part of this opportunity. Access Complete Business Plan: Bihar Industry Startup & Entrepreneurship Guide Government Policies Supporting Bihar’s Industrial Growth Capital investment subsidy, concessional land and power tariff concession are provided in Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy for new industrial investment. BIADA is the Industrial Estate Authority of Bihar that runs industrial estates in various districts. The Mega Food Park – under PM Sampada Yojana – for the food surplus districts of Bihar is a vital common infrastructure for food processing entrepreneurs. The export of makhana (fox nut), lychee and vegetables is promoted in Bihar by APEDA with the help of quality certification and market access programmes. Bihar has identified ‘food processing’, ‘Leather’, ‘Textile’ and ‘Manufacture of construction materials’ as priority sectors in ‘Make in India’. The central government has been investing in Bihar Special Package and the PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana) for rural road connectivity which is helping to ease the last-mile logistics cost of agri-processing entrepreneurs in flood-prone districts. The state’s good land reform history offers a fairly good level of land security, which is one of the risks associated with industrial investment in Bihar. Top 10 Industrialists of Bihar: Profiles and Future Vision 1. Anil Agarwal (Bihar Origins) – Vedanta Resources Anil Agarwal, Founder of Vedanta Resources, was born at Patna, Bihar. From humble beginnings, trading in scrap metal in Mumbai, he was able to grow up into India’s largest diversified natural resource company with the help of a bank loan on the first cable company that he acquired. This is one of the great entrepreneurial origin stories in India, from Agarwal in Patna to London, via his days in the scrap yards in Mumbai. His industrial strategy, who would acquire resource assets and establish refining and processing facilities around them, established a zinc-copper-aluminium-iron ore-oil and gas conglomerate. Agarwal’s vision is to bring back substantial investments in the semiconductor and tech industry in India. 2. Food Processing Industry Leaders – Makhana and Lychee, Darbhanga Bihar is the leading state in the production of makhana (fox nut / water lily seed) which is in increasing demand in the country and abroad as a healthy snack food and accounts for 90% of the total production in the country. The benefit of these industrial entrepreneurs who have established organised businesses for the production of makhana, roasting and packing is that they are making a most unique product for export in Bihar. The government’s GI (Geographical Indication) tagging of Mithila Makhana and export promotion support from APEDA is opening up markets for health food retailers in the US, Europe and Middle East. The lychee processing from Muzaffarpur which has the largest lychee cultivation belt in India is also a potential opportunity in food processing. Get Detailed Insights from This Book: Handbook on Fruits, Vegetables & Food Processing with Canning & Preservation 3. Sitaram Jindal – Jindal Charitable Trust and Bihar Steel The Jindals’ industrial and philanthropic footprint in the Indian state of Bihar extends to steel manufacturing, construction materials, and substantial investments in the social sector through the Jindal Charitable Trust. Bihar is seeing capacity building by industrial leaders that have a link with steel and infrastructure sector, keeping in view the state focus on its huge capacity building plan. Bihar’s expressway, railway and bridge construction pipeline generates huge demand for rebar, structural steel, cement and construction equipment, where industrial entrepreneurs situated in the state enjoy
