Patna, Nov. 20: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today accepted that industrialisation in the state is very less although he seemed to be contended with small-time investments as “drops of water would eventually fill a pot”.

While speaking during the State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting today, Nitish said the state had good potential for small investments.

“There are no big-ticket investments in the state at present. Industrialisation is very less at present. However, we need the help of banks for small investment, which are little drops of water, which ultimately fill up a pot. Development and growth are quite steady in the state, which has potential for agro-based and food processing industries. We also have an impressive industrial policy,” Nitish said.

The chief minister’s statement comes just days before the government is ready with its yearly report card.

After multiple failures in policies floated to attract investors, sources said, the state government was now getting close to “reality”.

“The industrialists here have always lamented over the fact that Bihar has not been able to make progress as expected on the industry front. This year has seen a total of two major policies, which have been announced just to get land. While the exit policy has flopped miserably, the private industry area policy, until now, has failed to attract private landowners. With land is still the biggest problem at present, the government realises this after the policies were announced. The CM’s statement can also be seen in a different way. It can be said that the focus of the state government is shifting to small investments in sectors like food processing rather than just hoping for a big-ticket investment which is hard to find now,” an industrialist said.

Nitish also added the fact that the credit-deposit ratio (CDR) of the state was bad.

“Bihar’s CDR stands at 40 per cent which is far below the national average of 80 per cent. This is not a very encouraging figure and banks have to help out the state regarding this. With the state having potential in the food processing and agro-based industries sector, it is the banks, which should come up and help them in providing them quick loans. The message should go in from the banks that they are ready to help,” Nitish said.

The CDR is the ratio of how much a bank lends out of the deposits it has mobilised. The ratio is an indicator of how much of a bank’s funds are being used for lending.

Nitish also said the number of banks in the region was less. “Against the aim of opening 750 new branches of different banks in the state, only 184 branches have opened shop. Moreover, loan is a problem and there are many a time when people, mostly poor students, knock at the doors of the weekly janata durbar complaining that the banks hardly provide them with education loans,” he added.

A member of the SLBC, requesting anonymity, said the insecurity factor was still at large. “The lending of the banks and the CDR can only improve if the state moves further towards improvement. The banks generally do not want to lend the funds to small units as there is a risk of non-payment and the company going sick and the funds getting stuck,” he said.