Abstract:

                                     The economy of Bihar is largely service oriented, but it also has a significant agricultural base. The state also has a small industrial sector.  It is known that agricultural growth is 23% in 2012-2013.Bihar’s economic growth is 14.48% in 2012-2013 as shifting from agricultural sector to tertiary sector. Bihar has the lowest GDP per capita in India but there are pockets of higher per capita income like the southern half of the state and its capital city, Patna. Bihar's GDP grew by 11.03%, which made Bihar the second fastest growing economy in India during that 5 year period, just behind Gujarat's growth of 11.05%.. For industrial development, the government has cleared a total of 135 proposals worth Rs 71,289.64 crore, submitted by big entrepreneurs for setting up medium and large industries. related to sugar mills, ethanol, engineering and medical colleges and power production in the state. A sum of Rs 602.54 crore had already been spent on various activities pertaining to the cleared projects, which are likely to create job opportunities for over 114,000 people. The proposals include opening of 23 new sugar mills and the expansion of seven existing ones, apart from the production of ethanol in two sugar mills and five sugarcane juice production plants. The projects regarding five power plants, 12 food processing units and 15 steel processing and cement plants have also been cleared by the state. Bihar has registered highest growth rate of 14 percent in the industrial sector during nine years period of 2004-2012 among BIMARU category states -Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The dependency of the state government on agriculture does not surprise because Bihar as a state failed in the past to qualify for the industries requirements. The industry set up requires huge infrastructure supports like uninterrupted power supply, availability of land, well connectivity and quality roads/highway, organized markets and good governance etc.  An agro-industrial policy will attract investment in the food processing industry in the state. as there are extremely rich in raw materials like fruits, vegetables, milk cereals which could be processed as food products like pickles, sauce, ketchup, dehydrate vegetables and other products.

The objective of the paper is to develop  industries in Bihar for development, growth & employment opportunities etc as there are many fertile land, natural resources’ and manpower after considering past trends and present scenario, for the benefit of the future.

Key words: BIMARU, GDP, Agro-industrial policy,