Bihar to unveil its much delayed tourism policy in July

Chief minister Nitish Kumar says his govt has finalised draft policy for super-speciality hospitals as well

Bihar government is planning to notify its new policies regarding development tourism and super-specialty hospitals by the end of next month. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today ordered state government officials to complete preparations on this matter. 

Kumar, while speaking at Udyami Panachayat in Patna on Monday, emphasised on nurturing local entrepreneurs than attracting big firms.

"We know that Bihar has nothing which can attract big ticket investments. They will go to the places, where the money is. Therefore, we have to focus on our local entrepreneurs. We have to train them, nurture them. For this, we need policies, which can provide support to them. Bihar may not be an investment destination today, but we will be one in future. We have the market, which will ultimately attract those big firms. In the meantime, we will do our best to promote our local businesses. We will make policies which can promote entrepreneurship in the state."

Kumar said that his government has already finalised the draft policies for super-speciality hospitals and tourism sectors in state. "Our policies in this regard are almost ready. The concerned departments' officials are present here. They have to make a final presentation on these policies before me in next month. I would like them to move quickly on this matter. They should aim for notifying these policies by the end of July."

Both of the policies have been prepared by the state government on the framework of its existing food processing policy, which has scored hundreds of investors and close to Rs. 1,000 crore worth of investment for the state in agri-processing sector. 

According to the state government sources, the industry department will offer several tax rebates and subsides for investors under these new proposed policies. Investors can get back up to 40% of their total capital expenditure as subsidies under these policies, including the cost of the land. Plus they would also be provided credit linkages from the Banks.

The draft policy also proposes interest subsidies to attract more investors. The state government will also offer 80% VAT reimbursement for new units. 

The state government chose 11 thrust areas under its New Industrial Policy, 2011 including Food Processing, Tourism, Super-Speciality Hospitals, IT and ITeS, Electronic hardware manufacturing, etc. The government at that time decided to draft special policies for each thrust area, but it has not been able to do so in most of the cases.