Patna: Chief minister Samrat Choudhary met Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Tuesday and discussed a six-point agenda aimed at accelerating Bihar’s industrial growth, attracting investment, strengthening industrial infrastructure, promoting exports and developing data centres in the state.Officials said the meeting focused on measures to provide improved facilities to investors and widen export opportunities for Bihar-based entrepreneurs. One key proposal was the creation of an escrow account mechanism to ensure transparent, systematic and timely payment of incentive amounts to investors. The arrangement is intended to make the disbursal of incentives smoother, more reliable and easier to monitor.Choudhary and Goyal also discussed a proposal to set up an Integrated Commerce Building in Patna. The building would bring offices and affiliated institutions of the Union ministry of commerce and industry onto one campus, enabling industrialists, exporters and investors to access multiple services at a single location.The meeting also reviewed the additional cost involved in the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster being developed in Gaya and the possibility of financial participation by the Centre. It was decided that the Union commerce secretary, the secretary of Bihar’s industries department and the managing director of the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation would hold a joint meeting to assess the extra cost and examine possible central support.Export promotion received special attention, with discussions on preparing a list of entrepreneurs and traders interested in exports and sharing it with the Centre. These participants would be linked with export promotion councils to help them access international markets and benefit from export-related opportunities. The issue of giving Bihar representation through one member on the Indian Tea Board was also discussed.They also considered steps to strengthen Bihar’s statewide digital economy. Discussions included preparing a dedicated data centre policy and expediting efforts to develop data centres with a capacity of 100 megawatts.
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