JD-U upbeat over Assocham report lauding Bihar

Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders are upbeat with an Assocham the report claiming that Bihar is growing at a faster rate than Gujarat.

"It has again vindicated fast growth and development in Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar," state JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said.

Another JD-U spokesperson, Sanjay Singh, said that Assocham has painted the real picture of Bihar's development. "It is the fastest growing state in the country, which has now been accepted," Singh said.

The report said that Bihar was fast catching up with Gujarat in fresh investment in crucial sectors like power despite its "huge disadvantage of the past baggage of laggard development".

"Bihar is growing at a faster speed than Gujarat on different growth parameters whether relating to investment or per capita income, remains much lower than those of the western state," the report said.

According to the report, Bihar logged in a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent in public investment between March 2003 and March 2013, while this was 14.1 per cent in the case of Gujarat.

Bihar's per capita investment has grown to Rs.30,011 in March 2013, still lower than where Gujarat was 10 years ago, but marks a big jump from just Rs.3,074 in March 2003.