Bihar is emerging as the preferred investment destination for India Inc., according to Mr Ratan Tata and Mr Anand Mahindra. "

I am totally surprised to see how Bihar is changing. What I saw after coming here was totally different from the picture that was in my mind," Mr Tata, who visited Patna recently as the chairman of the National Investment Council, said.

So impressed was Mr Tata with the "clear concept" and "vision" of the bureaucracy and the government that he announced he would look into the possibilities of investing in Bihar.

Mr Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, also said that he could come to Bihar in a "big way". M&M will set up a separate team in its organisation to explore possibilities of investment in Bihar in the automobiles, farm equipment, trade and financial services, information technology and automobile component sectors.

Bihar could also be the first state to have a state-of-the-art hospital of Max Healthcare outside the National Capital Region. Max Healthcare chairman Analjit Singh finds this state the "best option" for investment outside NCR.

"Bihar has great potential and we want to come here," Mr Singh had told reporters in Patna recently after discussing with the chief minister the possibilities of greenfield projects and public-private partnerships. Singapore’s senior state minister for external affairs, Balaji Sadashivan, also had a successful dialogue, recently, with the Bihar government on Nalanda University and the development of the Buddhist circuit. "Singapore will definitely play a prominent role in the project," Mr Sadashivan had said.

Off the corporate investment radar for long, Bihar - which was ranked the third worst performer in terms of investments made by corporate houses in the June-August period in a recent study conducted by Assocham - is now flooded with investment proposals. An investment plan worth Rs 14,000 crores for the ailing sugarcane industry has already been cleared by the state Cabinet while several others are pending clearance.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar believes the time was ripe to roll out the red carpet for the big players of corporate India. "It is good to see that rebranding of Bihar has worked. India can progress only when Bihar is developed, that is what the Prime Minister had said recently," Mr Kumar added.

Mr Kumar has also mooted the idea of a development commission which will comprise figures like Mr Ratan Tata, Mr Anand Mahindra and others.