Patna, Feb. 15: The state government has made its presence — albeit in a different way — during Make in India Week in Mumbai.

With the Make in India Week, an initiative of the Union government, entering its third day today, the state government, despite not having a Bihar stall, knocked at the event. 

In Mumbai, the state industries department showcased two new policies to be announced by the government shortly. Industries minister Jai Kumar Singh told The Telegraph that he had taken a delegation of department officials to Mumbai and had talked about investment opportunities available in Bihar with a group of investors on Sunday (February 14). On not putting up a stall at the Mumbai event, Jai clarified that with two upcoming policies — industrial incentive policy (2015-2019) and start-up policy — in order, Bihar did not want to discuss “old stuff” with investors. 

“I was present in the Make in India Week in Mumbai for two whole days. Bihar Foundation in Mumbai had taken up an active initiative towards representation of Bihar and we were scanning ideas and policies of other states. Yesterday, Bihar Foundation organised an event at a nearby hotel and we met some investors and had a fruitful discussion. We told them about our new upcoming policies and some of their aspects inviting them to come to Bihar. The event might very well be Make in India but we pushed for Make in Bihar,” Jai added.

Department secretary S. Siddhartha, who is playing a pivotal role towards giving the two policies a final shape, confirmed: “Directors of all directorates of the department attended the event.”

Jai claimed: “The government is framing the new industrial policy, which will have several new initiatives to offer. The start-up policy’s final draft is ready but it needs to be approved by the cabinet. We told the participants that a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore has been set aside for start-ups and a seed funding up to Rs 10 lakh is expected to be provided to start-ups for development.”

Industrialists felt the state government needed to work on several faults. “First, participation in trade fairs, expos etc with a proper stall are very important. Investment is secondary. One has to show itself to the people which is more important and the same creates a murmuring among participants. Second, in most  fairs, the investors want to know about two things — single-window system and land availability. In both these fronts, the state lags behind. We only hope that the new industrial policy has solutions for both,” said industrialist Satyajeet Kumar.