Thursday, September 7 2006 15:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Bihar will hold a major meet early next year to woo investors. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) from the state are expected to participate in the meet which intends to repackage Bihar as a favourable investment destination.

The meet, being jointly organised by Bihartimes.com, a Patna-based news portal, New Delhi-based Institute of Human Development and the government, is likely to be held in January 2007 in the state capital.

"About 500 NRIs will be invited," Ajay Kumar, the brain behind the meet told sources today (Sept 7, 2006).

Kumar, chief editor-cum-CEO of Bihartimes.com said, "The idea is to provide a platform to discuss, debate and understand relevant issues. And the motive is to market and establish Bihar as a global brand."

Bihar is keen to attract foreign investment in agriculture, health, IT and tourism.

"Over a dozen of projects will be shortlisted to attract investors," offical told sources.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi are keen on hosting the meet. Modi organised a high-level meet Wednesday to work out the details.

Modi, who visited Britain, Italy and Canada to market Bihar as a favourable investment destination two months ago, has proposed to form an NRI cell to facilitate investments.

The government also plans to set up a corpus fund with contributions from NRIs for development. In August, dozens of NRIs from Bihar assembled at New Delhi to organise resources for the big event.

In 1995, former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav undertook a foreign trip to woo NRIs, but his efforts did not pay off.