Industrial Development in Bihar

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham) has proposed to partner Bihar government to develop 14 industrial clusters for an estimated cost of Rs. 450 crore for employment and revenue generation.

Assocham General Secretary D.S. Rawat said on Sunday that the proposed clusters will provide jobs to 6 lakh people, directly and indirectly.

Mr. Rawat, who was talking to reporters here after releasing the Assocham’s study report on ‘Cluster Development for Inclusive Growth in Bihar’, said the 14 proposed industrial clusters have a capacity of about 25,000-28,000 units with each providing jobs to 8-10 people.

He said the State government will also benefit from the development of the proposed industrial clusters in terms of both revenue and employment generation.

The 14 proposed industrial clusters will be located at Patna, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Munger, Nawada, Supaul, Gaya, Bhojpur and Hajipur (Vaishali), the Assocham office bearer said.

The study suggests the State government to constitute a statutory body ‘Cluster Development Authority’ to look after the industrial activities in Bihar to be set up under industrial clusters, he said.

In order to give impetus to industrial development of Bihar, the Assocham Bihar Chamber of Commerce (BCI) and Bihar Industries Association (BIA) have decided to hold three ’investmart’ in Patna in 2011, 2013 and 2015 to facilitate investment in the industrial sector.

New Delhi-Indian Potash Limited said today that it has planned to make an investment of about Rs. 300 crore in setting up a Sugar plant and distillery in Muzaffarpur District of Bihar
Presently IPL has five sugar plants in Uttar Pradesh (UP) with a total crushing capacity of 12,000 tonnes of cane per day.

“We will establish a sugar plant, along with a distillery to produce Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), with an investment of Rs 280 crore,” said IPL Managing Director P S Gahlaut.

The company will soon start construction work on the sugar and distillery plant in Bihar, he added.

“While the sugar plant will have a capacity of 3,500 tonnes of cane crushed per day, the distillery will produce 45,000 litres per day,” Gahlaut said.

During the last fiscal, IPL established four sugar plants in UP, taking its total plants in the state to five. The company’s sugar plants are situated at Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow and two at Gorakhpur.

“The total investment made by the company on the sugar plants in UP is around Rs 280-300 crore,” he noted.

At present, the total sugar producing capacity of the company is around 12,000 tonnes of cane per day (TCD), which would reach 18,000-20,000 TCD after the Bihar plants becomes operational and with further capacity addition in the next three years, Gahlaut added.

According to Gahlaut, the company is focusing on eastern UP and Bihar, which have so far been lagging in terms of sugar production.

“Our focus is on East UP and Bihar, as these areas have good scope for development and we expect that our investments here will pay rich dividend in the future,” he noted.

IPL, which is a major importer of fertilisers, imported around 9.4 million tonnes of fertilisers in the last fiscal.