Patna, March 27: Chief minister Nitish Kumar's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday was more about business than politics.

The memorandum submitted by Nitish to the PM talks about business - the loss Bihar has incurred because of the 14th Finance Commission and a plea to compensate the losses.

The total financial devolution to Bihar from Central taxes in 2015-16 will stand at Rs 50,748 crore. The net gain is only Rs 2,500 crore. While there is a loss of Rs 12,300 crore in central grants for centrally sponsored programmes, the state has had to slash its plan size by Rs 10,000 crore, it stated.

The memorandum points towards the dropping share of Bihar in central taxes right from 11.56 per cent in the 12th Finance Commission down to just 9.66 per cent in the 14th Finance Commission.

'Bihar should get more share in view of poverty prevailing in the state, but its share keeps dropping,' the memorandum stated, pointing out that the 14th Finance Commission had given weight to area and forest cover when Bihar has a large population and almost zero natural resource. It maintains that the 14th Finance Commission recommendations are regressive for backward states such as Bihar. The memorandum also pointed out that Bihar is among the least gainers as the increase in other states has been large.

Bihar gains only 37.3 per cent in terms of revenue, whereas states such as Rajasthan (46 per cent), Odisha (50.9 per cent), Bengal (56.4 per cent), Gujarat (57.7 per cent), Maharashtra (65.7 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (93.9 per cent) and other states are major gainers. Only two states Telangana and Tamil Nadu gain less than Bihar in percentage terms of revenue.

The memorandum also points towards high growth rate registered by Bihar in recent years because of good governance and stresses that instead of giving incentives for speeding up development, the state has been penalised.

It has also pointed out towards the 14th Finance Commission suggestions that some states may be compensated by grants in aid if the formula of the commission does not meet the needs of specific states.

Nitish's wishlist for Modi is that the backward region grants fund for Bihar should be continued, as many projects being implemented under the funds are still on constructive stage. He has demanded the remaining Rs 8,284 crore under this head. Apart from this, Nitish has demanded Rs 32,600 crore for construction of rural roads, Rs 4,899 crore for construction of a new six-lane bridge over Ganga, Rs 41,587 crore for the implementation of agriculture road map, more funds for strengthening secondary schools, building Panchayat Bhavans and help for constructing Metro Rail in Patna, which is estimated to cost Rs 10,500 crore.