For lengthy, Bihar has carried the bags of being a BIMARU state, a shorthand for what went fallacious in India’s growth story. However on the bottom, a bunch of entrepreneurs is betting that the following chapter will look very completely different.
“Enterprise in Bihar as we speak is like investing in an organization that’s but to get its IPO listed,” in accordance with Gaurav Shah, Managing Director of Banke Bihari Meals, one in every of japanese India’s largest meals processors. “You’ve gotten the infrastructure, the sources, the market, and the valuation continues to be undervalued. That is the proper time to speculate.”
Shah was talking at a roundtable moderated by Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, that includes Shah, Prince Ranjan of Snowball Ice Cream, and Anupam Singh of Anaisha Merchandise and Litchica Meals. Every of them has constructed corporations that make use of hundreds in a state the place most staff have a tendency to hunt alternatives exterior.
For them, the story of Bihar will not be one in every of decline however of risk—if notion can meet up with actuality. “There is no such thing as a legislation and order downside in Patna as we speak,” Shah stated. “We journey freely at night time. The stereotype of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ Bihar exists solely in folks’s creativeness.”
From “manufacturing facility of migrants” to native jobs
Ranjan, a second-generation entrepreneur, runs Raj Milk and Snowball Ice Cream, a model acquainted to households throughout the state. His firm employs greater than 2,000 folks. “If you happen to ask any citizen right here, they’ve grown up with the flavour of Snowball,” he stated.
For him, the most important satisfaction has not been market share however livelihoods. “There are hardly any alternatives right here. Throughout COVID-19, when our ice cream enterprise was utterly shut for a 12 months, we didn’t fireplace a single employee,” he added.
Singh, who left a high-paying profession in Mumbai with BlackRock and ICICI Financial institution to return to Bihar, echoed that sentiment. “I wrote down greater than 100 issues I wish to do for Bihar. Lots of our staff had migrated to Maharashtra and South India. Now, a few of them are again, working in our manufacturing facility, spending festivals with their households. That’s the most rewarding change.”
Migration stays a divisive theme. Shah sees it because the state’s energy in addition to its weak point. “Bihar is a manufacturing facility of individuals working throughout the nation,” he stated. “Remittances gasoline native consumption. And when staff return, they bring about abilities discovered exterior. The problem is to channel that into reverse migration.”
A state poised for a leap
Regardless of years of financial lag, the entrepreneurs consider Bihar is positioned for transformative development. Shah’s firm mills 40,000 tons of wheat a month, making it one in every of japanese India’s largest meals processing corporations. He insists that Bihar can develop into a hub for textiles, plywood, jute, and branded shopper merchandise.
“Due to the web and direct-to-consumer fashions, Bihar can create its personal Amul or Mom Dairy,” Shah stated. “The federal government is providing plug-and-play textile services at Rs 4–6 per sq. foot—cheaper than anyplace else on the earth.”
Singh pointed to an untapped alternative: world functionality centres (GCCs). “When corporations shift again workplaces to reasonably priced cities, why not Muzaffarpur or Gaya? Infrastructure and land can be found. This might create hundreds of jobs.”
The entrepreneurs additionally spoke of Bihar’s gentle energy potential—via meals, storytelling, and tourism. “Korean dramas and delicacies have constructed cultural affect worldwide,” Ranjan famous. “Why cannot Bihar do the identical with litti chokha or its festivals? We should inform a special Bihar story.”
The persistent hurdles: Floods, abilities, execution
Regardless of the optimism, the state suffers from structural weaknesses. “Each 2–3 months, half of Bihar is underwater,” Ranjan stated. “Flooding displaces folks and destroys productiveness. With so many applied sciences obtainable, how is that this nonetheless unsolved?”
Ability growth was one other unanimous concern. Bihar has no devoted faculties for meals technologists regardless of internet hosting dozens of meals processing items. “We’re pressured to rent from Uttar Pradesh or elsewhere,” Shah stated. Singh added, “Insurance policies exist, however execution is sluggish. What we’d like isn’t just think-tanks however individuals who can implement on the bottom.”
Urbanisation is lopsided, too. Patna is bursting at its seams, whereas huge tracts of land stay underdeveloped. “Bihar wants extra cities,” Singh stated. “One metropolis requires only a five-kilometre radius. If we construct a number of cities, we unfold jobs, infrastructure, and scale back overcrowding.”
Singh added that bottlenecks usually are not about intent however implementation. “We’ve a few of the greatest insurance policies in India on paper. However an entrepreneur wants assist executing them—clearances, land, utilities. That bridge between coverage and observe is lacking.”
Nonetheless, none of them described these as deal-breakers. “I do not name them frustrations,” Shah stated. “My dean taught me that issues are alternatives. If Bihar is undervalued as we speak, then the upside is solely larger tomorrow.”
Altering the narrative
Past infrastructure and abilities, the entrepreneurs consider notion is the toughest battle. “After we promote exterior Bihar, clients typically hesitate as a result of the product is ‘Made in Bihar’,” Shah stated. “But our high quality is on par with nationwide manufacturers.”
The answer, they argue, lies in branding the state itself. Tourism stays a manifestly underleveraged energy, regardless of Bodh Gaya being a world vacation spot. “Let folks come, see Bihar, expertise it firsthand. That is how perceptions change,” Singh stated.
On prohibition—a controversial state coverage—the panel was extra cautious. Whereas some admitted it could restrict fun-seeking vacationers, others argued it diminished social ills. “The whole lot has two sides,” Ranjan stated. “For spiritual tourism, it hardly issues.”
Fulfilment and frustration
When requested about probably the most fulfilling a part of doing enterprise in Bihar, the three entrepreneurs paused earlier than providing variations of the identical reply: creating jobs.
“In a poor state like ours, the place alternatives are scarce, creating livelihoods is probably the most rewarding factor,” stated Ranjan.
Singh, whose factories make use of locals in Muzaffarpur, stated the enjoyment goes past stability sheets. He asserted that the satisfaction of seeing the social transformation of staff of their hometowns, spending evenings with their households, is priceless.
For Shah, the fulfilment comes from watching how rapidly Bihar’s workforce adapts. “A Bihari learns in 24 hours what others take days to grasp,” he stated, recalling how his manufacturing facility workers embraced automation. “As soon as they grasp it, you’ll be able to’t beat them. That may be a supply of delight.”
Bihar’s subsequent chapter
The entrepreneurs agree that Bihar’s superb financial story is but to be written. For many years, the state has been synonymous with migration, poverty, and underdevelopment, a laggard in India’s development narrative. But they consider that is exactly why the chance is huge.
“This century belongs to India,” Shah stated. “However the Bihar chapter continues to be lacking. And that’s excellent news, as a result of it means there may be a lot left to be tapped.”
They level to alerts of change: new industrial parks in Motipur and Gaya, ethanol hubs, improved roads that lower supply instances from days to hours, and a surge in personal investments—Rs 1.8 lakh crore in proposals final 12 months alone. Even Patna’s airport, lengthy derided as a relic, is now a contemporary worldwide terminal.
For now, although, Bihar stays a piece in progress. “It’s like shopping for right into a inventory earlier than its IPO,” Shah stated. “The basics are robust, the market is hungry, and the valuation is low. The dividends will come—it is just a matter of time.”
Edited by Kanishk Singh
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