Big-ticket investments in Bihar might be a distant dream, but the government hopes that it can succeed in wooing non-resident Indian (NRI) businessmen to pump in money into the state .

A group of government officials and local entrepreneurs, headed by state industries minister Renu Devi, is in Kochi, Kerala, to attend the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, which started today, to woo NRI investors.

Naveen Verma, principal secretary, industries, told The Telegraph that the group aimed to encourage NRIs to invest in the state. “Bihar had participated in the event earlier too. But this time, we have taken more people with us. Apart from the industries minister and government officials, some local entrepreneurs are also there. The team would talk to NRI businessmen and people in general and give them the picture about the large scope of investments in Bihar. They would request the businessmen to come to the state and look for investment opportunities. We hope that this year’s participation would be an advantage for the state and we can look forward towards investments,” he told The Telegraph.

The event at Hotel Le Meridian in Kochi is based on the theme, “Engaging Diaspora: The Indian Growth Story”.

The three-day event will have several technical sessions, discussions and seminars on the tourism sector among other things. The overseas Indian affairs ministry holds the event every year.

“The session this time aims at talking about the Indian growth story. The state government has gone to the event to showcase the growth story of Bihar in recent years and the investment opportunities available here. The local entrepreneurs taking part in the event would talk to potential NRI investors and give them a description of the state besides requesting them to consider it for investment opportunities. A detailed plan has been prepared for the same,” another department official said.

Local businessmen, however, said the state government’s move was quite a far-fetched dream considering the lack of infrastructure and red tape. The state government is trying hard to revive the shunted single window system in Bihar with the industries department saying that the list of the nodal officers of all departments would be available on the department’s website www.industries.bih.nic.in.

“The single window cell is being revived and the list of officers of the cell has been put on the website. Names of nodal officers of each department and their contact details would be on the website too,” Verma said.