December has turned out to be a month of business commitments. This month witnessed business tycoons pledging investment commitments in two major states of the country at their investment summits respectively.
While Rajasthan was the first to organise Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit from 9-11 December, Bihar followed it up with a two-day summit – Bihar Business Connect – on December 19, 2024.
Rising Rajasthan was steered by principal secretary industries Ajitabh Sharma, who is 1996 batch IAS officer while Bihar Connect was coordinated by industries secretary Bandana Preyashi, who is 2003-batch IAS officer.
The next year will start with two-day summit – Invest Madhya Pradesh – to be held from January 16. Like in Rajasthan, prime minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the business summit. Pressure will be on MP government and bureaucracy to compete with neighbouring Rajasthan in attracting attention of global investors.
Rajasthan attracted Rs 35 lakh crore plus, Bihar could garner Rs 1.8 lakh crore
Rajasthan is the largest state in area and stands at 7th position as far as population is concerned. Bihar stands at 12th position in area but is the third most populated state. The contribution of Rajasthan in India's GDP is 5.17% while Bihar contributes only 2.17%.
The revenue receipts of both the states though are in the similar range of Rs 2.26 – Rs 2.67 lakh crore.
Statistics has little to do with investment proposals pouring in these business summits. While Rising Rajasthan was a grand success breaking all records of investment commitments, Bihar's Business Connect failed to connect with business biggies. Rajasthan's Summit was 20 times bigger than Bihar's Connect.
In both the states, Adani Group was among the top investors. The group announced investment commitment of Rs 7.5 lakh crore in Rajasthan while in Bihar it pledged to invest Rs 20,000 crore in energy sector.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
