Bihar Business Connect-2023: Natives ‘home in’ to invest, explore

More than 600 investors from 16 countries, of which 200 are from Bihar, would participate in the event, said additional chief secretary (industries) Sandeep Poundrik.

Several young entrepreneurs hailing from Bihar, who have made their mark at the national and international level, would be showcasing their ventures during the two-day Bihar Business Connect-2023, the global investors’ meet due to begin in state capital Patna from Wednesday.

Prashant Kumar, who currently heads artificial intelligence for global growth markets at Accenture, is the author of the book ‘Made in Future’.

“More than 600 investors from 16 countries, of which 200 are from Bihar, would participate in the event,” said additional chief secretary (industries) Sandeep Poundrik.

The ACS said MoU worth ₹31,000 crore would be signed during the two-day meet to be attended by entrepreneurs from the US, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Among the big Indian business groups participating are Adani group, Britannia, Micromax Biofuels, Tiger Analytics, Godrej, besides textile groups like Oswal and Rupa.

“The summit will highlight the state’s strategic advantage across key sectors such as textiles, food processing, IT and bio-fuel, among others,” Poundrik said.

He said the government was focussing on building “plug and play” infrastructure to attract investors.

Among the 200-odd entrepreneurs hailing from Bihar and attending the meet, there are some big names as well.

US-based Mahesh Kumar is the founder and CEO of Tiger Analytics, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, which employs more than 4,000 technologists and consultants based in the US, Canada, the UK, India, Singapore, and Australia.

“We are excited about this strategic collaboration with the Government of Bihar. Our recently established AI centre of excellence in Patna reinforces our commitment to solving tough tech challenges by offering AI-driven solutions. Leveraging our expertise in AI and analytics, we look forward to building transformative solutions for the state government. We are confident that this partnership will yield mutually beneficial outcomes as we embark on key initiatives together,” said Kumar.

Prashant Kumar, a leading digital marketing futurist in Asia-Pacific, who authored the best-seller “Made in Future”, is also one of the attendees. Kumar, who hails from Saharsa, is the founder of Entropia, an agency specialising in building digital experiences for brands. In 2021, Entropia was acquired by Accenture, where Kumar is currently heading artificial intelligence for global growth markets. An alumnus of Sainik School Tilaiya and St. Stephens, Kumar says “he is keen on exploring possibilities in his home state”.

Dheeraj Pandey, CEO of DevRev Inc USA, a software major, is one of the speakers at the event on Day One.

An alumnus of St. Michael’s High School in Patna and IIT-Kanpur, Pandey is focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) and design to automate software and customer engineering workflows. Previously, he co-founded Nutanix Inc. in 2009 and served as its chief executive officer and as the chairman of its board of directors until December 2020.

Also attending the meet is Hasmukh Ranjan hailing from Patna, who is currently chief information officer at US-based Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a company with great ambitions in AI.

The last investors’ meet was organised by the Bihar government in Delhi in 2022, when chief minister Nitish Kumar headed an NDA government.

Since then, Ambuja Cements Ltd, part of Swiss building material major Holcim group (earlier LafargeHolcim), has announced to set up its unit at Barh at an estimated cost of ₹1,200 crore.

Dubai-based Lulu Group International has also announced to invest in food processing unit and a shopping mall in state.