Patna, Feb. 23: Nitish Kumar is riding high on the success of his development agenda that propelled him to a landslide victory and a second term in office, but the industry and commerce brigade, which pins high hopes on his government, wants special emphasis and incentives for its revival.

The Bihar Chamber of Commerce (BCC), Bihar Industries Association and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Bihar want deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, to announce measures for the growth and revival of the industrial sector.

To augment industrial development in the state, the government should focus on irrigation, construction of storage infrastructure, tax incentives for the manufacturing sector, which is in the nascent stage in the state, incorporate a budgetary provision of at least Rs 1,000 crore for industries, create a land bank, not change the tax structure, ensure energy security and waive off fuel surcharge which is being realised with retrospective effect.

Given the wishlist, Modi, who would be presenting the state’s budget for the seventh consecutive time, has a tough task ahead to live up to the expectations of the industry bodies without slashing the budgetary outlay for key areas such as education, agriculture, power, roads among others, which the government itself has admitted.

The government should at least make a budgetary provision of Rs 1,000 crore for the revival and growth of industries that the government has been getting from the central government to offset the industrial losses it faced in the event of state’s bifurcation in 2000.

“If the government ensures that it would spend Rs 1,000 crore for industries, it can certainly help revive industrial investment in the state and give a fillip to the overall growth of the sector. Had the earmarked funds, which the state has been getting for past seven years, been used for industries, it would have changed the face of the state completely,” CII state council chairman Satyajit Kumar Singh told The Telegraph.

The government desperately needs to enhance the budgetary provision for the industrial sector, which has been pegged at around Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal, he said, adding that the biggest irony is that the industries have just received a minuscule amount of Rs 20-25 crore as incentive in one year.

Singh, also a promoter of Shakti Sudha company, which processes makhana, said the government should not tinker with the present three-tier tax structure system of VAT of 1, 4 and 12 per cent, as it would send a wrong signal to businessmen, traders and industrialists who have started paying tax.

BCC president O.P. Sah wants the government to come out with hassle-free industrial policy, which must get rid of red tape to help build an industrial atmosphere conducive for investment in the state, where an entrepreneur need not run from pillar to post. Sah said it was imperative on the part of the government to give fillip to the local investors, who till a few years back, were investing in other states, and for this, the government should completely exempt them from paying entry tax on the purchase of plant and machinery.

“The government had already announced the abolition of entry tax in the 2010-11 budget but it could not be implemented, as it has not been notified till date because of the model code of conduct or some other reasons,” Sah said, adding that the government should now implement it.

Fuel surcharge is another area where industries have been facing difficulty in footing the bill.