The India New Zealand Business Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bihar Foundation at the India Unplugged event in downtown Auckland on May 23.

INZBC Chairman Sameer Handa and Bihar Foundation’s Ragini Gautam signed the agreement.

With different Indian states charting out their own growth strategies, the council has begun following the strategy of forging ties with individual states, Mr Handa said.

The Bihar Foundation is an initiative of the Bihar State Government, Ms Gautam said. It is a not-for-profit organisation with chapters across the world run by volunteers who are people of Bihari origin who live in different countries.

Bihar was among the fastest growing states in India, Ms Gautam said. It has been registering nearly 11 per cent growth and had a predominantly agrarian economy. “That is a natural fit with New Zealand,” she said.

The Bihar Government is calling for global investment in a number of sectors and is offering attractive incentives to investors. Ms Gautam said Bihar was among the most undersold investment destinations in India but one that had great potential. The mission of the Bihar Foundation was to make the state and its many positive attributes known, she added.

Ms Gautam made an appeal to Kiwi businesspeople to consider investing in Bihar and invited them to visit the state. A business delegation was on the cards, she said.