Bihar has high expectations from the general budget to be presented by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday. From tourism and real estate to retail and civil aviation markets, the key segments in the state are looking forward for a game-changer budget that could push individuals as well as the state on the growth trajectory. 
Piyush Kumar Tripathi of The Telegraph presents a snapshot of the prevailing scenario in different segments of the economy in Bihar and their expectations from the budget:

Real estate

Patna occupies the centre stage in the real estate industry. Patna’s real estate market was largely considered one of the most booming markets in the region, which was clearly evident from the skyrocketing property prices indicating a whopping demand.
However, the realty market witnessed a slump in the past two years because of policy paralysis in the form of delay in bringing the new building byelaws as well as restriction on construction of high-rises due to ongoing litigation in the Patna High Court. According to estimates, projects worth Rs 15,000-20,000 crore are stuck in the market because of 
the logjam.

“It is for the first time after Independence that the central government has come up with a vision of ‘housing-for-all’, which would augment the growth in real estate sector across the country,” said Sachin Chandra, the state president of the Bihar Chapter of Builders’ Association of India.

Tourism

The Buddhist sector-dominated tourism industry in Bihar attracts lakhs of tourists from across the globe. In fact, the tourist inflow in the state in 2014 was the highest in the past 14 years, as it stood at 2.33 crore, including 2.25 crore domestic and 8.29 lakh foreign tourists. Despite such high tourist inflow, the state is yet to get a five-star hotel and there is dearth of other basic tourist infrastructure, including wayside food kiosks, tourist buses and quality lodging facilities at all sites.

“We expect that the budget would have provisions for exemption in service taxes for the new entrants in the hospitality sector,” Arun Kumar Ojha, the vice-president of the Hotel Association of Bodhgaya.

Agriculture

This is widely considered to be at the forefront of Bihar’s economy and it is in consideration of the fact that the Nitish Kumar’s government is pursuing a “Krishi Road Map” for 2012-2022. 
“The budget should have special packages for small farmers. The food processing sector has also become an important segment of agriculture markets. Thus, the central government should provide incentives for setting up warehouses and cold storages. The central government should also make significant provisions in the budget for strengthening the irrigation system and reforms in agriculture subsidy and public distribution system,” said Prem Chand Tiwari, a farmer at Bhore block in Gopalganj district. 

Retail

The retail industry in Patna and other small towns in Bihar has by far remained unorganised but it is faced with a bigger challenge from online markets. Consequently, protection from e-tail seems to be the biggest expectation for the retailers in the state. “We expect that the Union budget would have provisions for increasing the tax ambit on e-trade as it has severely affected our market,” said Nihar Hisariya, the owner of four retail outlets in Patna.