Assam, Bengal and Bihar pitch eastern India as next major investment growth corridor

ElevenAM Desk | New Delhi | 19 September 2026 | 4:00 PM IST

Assam, West Bengal and Bihar have made a coordinated pitch for greater private investment in eastern India, arguing that improvements in infrastructure, industrial policy and connectivity are creating the conditions for the region to play a larger role in the country’s next phase of economic expansion.

The case was presented at the ICC Global Business Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where political and industry leaders discussed manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure and emerging investment opportunities under the broader theme of growth, risk and resilience.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma positioned the Northeast as an increasingly important part of the eastern growth story, linking the state’s investment ambitions to improved connectivity and the Centre’s wider Purvodaya approach to economic development in eastern and northeastern India.

The three-state pitch reflects a broader attempt to shift investment attention beyond India’s established western and southern industrial centres. Eastern states have historically faced constraints ranging from infrastructure gaps to lower levels of private capital formation, but governments in the region are increasingly competing for large manufacturing and services projects.

For Assam, the strategic argument rests partly on geography. The state serves as the principal gateway to much of the Northeast and is seeking to convert improvements in roads, rail, airports and digital infrastructure into a stronger industrial and logistics base.

West Bengal and Bihar, meanwhile, are emphasising their large markets, labour pools and improving industrial ecosystems. A more integrated eastern investment corridor could also create supply-chain opportunities across state boundaries rather than treating each state as an isolated market.

The challenge will be converting summit commitments and policy announcements into projects on the ground. Investors typically weigh land availability, power reliability, logistics costs, regulatory certainty and the speed of approvals alongside incentives offered by state governments.

The summit’s eastern India session nevertheless signalled a more coordinated regional narrative: that the next stage of national growth need not be concentrated in existing industrial clusters and that the East and Northeast intend to compete more aggressively for capital.