Patna, Feb. 28: Welcoming the Union budget 2015-16, the state's industry bodies and entrepreneurs expressed happiness over the announcements of long-pending demand of special financial assistance, AIIMS-like institution and creation of Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank with a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore.

They said these measures would put the state on a higher growth trajectory.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in his budget speech that Bihar and Bengal would be given special assistance on the lines of Andhra Pradesh.

Reacting to the budget announcement of special assistance for the state, Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president Arun Agarwal expressed satisfaction over the finance minister's announcement and said: 'For quite a long time, we have been demanding that Bihar should be accorded special category status or at least be given special financial package. We had submitted a memorandum to the finance ministry in this regard. With our demand being met, the state would witness higher growth....I am yet to see the details in this regard.'

Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries president O.P. Sah and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry too echoed the views while appreciating the Centre's move.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bihar, chairman Satyajit Singh welcomed the move but asserted that the state should continue its fight for getting special status to reap larger benefits. Telangana opposed the special package in February 2013 but the central government in 2014 finally approved the special status to Telangana.

Agarwal said: 'It is a matter of happiness and satisfaction that the finance ministry has accepted our demand for another AIIMS in the state. We had in our memorandum made a demand in this regard.'

On the creation of MUDRA Bank to provide easy access to finance to entrepreneurs, Sah said the move would help start-ups, micro units and small entrepreneurs get easy finance and hence, would find it easier to set up their own unit/enterprise.

A start-up is a business enterprise or firm, which has been launched recently or is in nascent stage that requires all types of help - technical, financial, product development - to become a full-fledged organisation. Bihar Entrepreneurs' Association secretary-general Abhishek Kumar, who runs an e-finance project consultancy firm, said MUDRA Bank promised high hopes for aspiring entrepreneurs. 'The decision will benefit new entrepreneurs and start-ups for whom getting finance is hard. It could benefit Bihar, as it has 3.3 crore registered unemployed youths,' said Abhishek.