Chandigarh, May 24: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday asked the ‘Invest Punjab’ to work out a model where incentives for industry can be given as per needs of the industry on a case to case basis.
Chairing the 3rd meeting of the Board of Governors of Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP) through video conferencing, the Chief Minister further said that the recently passed legislation on anti-red tapeism as a part of government’s reforms agenda for improving delivery of services to public and ease of doing business to industry has already been put in place so as to reengineer the government procedures and make it more investor friendly. He also assured that his government will not shy away from walking the extra mile to attract investments to the state and create employment opportunities for the youth of Punjab. He categorically said that our aim should be to facilitate every prospective entrepreneur/industrialist to be a part of Punjab’s overall industrial development and prosperity and he wished Punjab to be a leading industrial state not only within the country but across the globe also.
Meanwhile, the CEO Invest Punjab Rajat Agrawal made a presentation about the work done by the Bureau in the last 4 years. It was informed that a total of 2394 projects worth Rs. 84,500/- crores have come to the state. Out of these, 53 % projects have already started Commercial Production and another 35% are in various states of construction, trial production and commissioning. 24% of the total projects have come in SAS Nagar while 22% projects have come to Ludhiana. The state also witnessed investments in interior districts like Sangrur, Bathinda and border districts like Gurdaspur, Amritsar Pathankot among others. As regards the sectors, 31% projects have come in Manufacturing, 15% in Agro and Food processing, 8% and 6% in Textiles and Alloy Steels sectors respectively. The state also witnessed investments in Pharmaceuticals, IT & ITES, Auto Sector and service sectors. The Chief Minister complimented Invest Punjab for garnering investment proposals worth Rs. 84,500 crore having proposed employment potential of 3.13 lakh, including investments from countries such as Germany, Japan, France, USA, UK, UAE, Singapore, Spain, Denmark, South Korea and New Zealand since March 2017 adding he wished that the Invest Punjab should achieve the milestone of Rs. 1 lakh crore investment by the end of December 2021.
Taking part in the deliberations Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Group Pankaj Munjal expressed gratitude to the Punjab government and a invest punjab for extending all support for setting up their Rs.500 crore electric cycle and hi-end bicycles in the hi-tech cycle valley, Ludhiana. He also informed that his company has already tied up with Japanese Company Yamaha and Mitsui besides other companies of Germany and UK to set up facilities in the Hi- Tech Cycle valley. He said that e-cycle market industry alone has over Rs.5 lakh crore global potential, out of which India has merely captured 2% i.e. Rs.10,000 crore which could further be enhanced to Rs.50,000 crore.
Likewise, Chairman CII Punjab State Council Bhavdeep Sardana complimented the government for their industry friendly policies and reviving the entire Mandi Gobindgarh. He emphasized the need for setting up a Steel City in Punjab considering the existing growth and potential in secondary steel, forging and machining.
Managing Director of Sri Tool Industries SC Ralhan underlined the need to boost infrastructure for manufacturing of hand and power tool for giving a fillip to its export potential upto Rs.3000 crore.
Chairman and Managing Director of Vardhman Group Sachit Jain complimented the state in achieving such a high percentage in terms of Commercial Production of projects and the ones under construction. He further updated the Chief Minister about investments made by AICHI Steels of Japan in PUNJAB` through Vardhman Steels. He further informed that Vardhman Steels is planning to invest another Rs. 200 crore in its expansion project very soon.
Responding to the inputs given by these industrialists, the Chief Minister asked the PBIP to look into their suggestions and assured of all support to propel industrialization in the state at a much faster pace as it is the need of the hour.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said he was overwhelmed to learn about investment worth Rs.84,500 crore in the industrial sector, which speaks volumes of Captain Amarinder’s visionary leadership in attracting huge investment in the state. He also suggested that a hi-end office must be set up at New Delhi with Bureau’s top team to guide the interested entrepreneurs and industrialists not only from the country but from across the world to choose Punjab as their most preferred investment destination. He said the state has major land chunks for industry at Rajpura, Bathinda and Goindwal Sahib which could be optimally utilized and offered to those entrepreneurs who wanted to set up their ventures in Punjab.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included; Food & Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Industries & Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora, Health & Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, ACS Power A. Venu Parsad, ACS Development Anirudh Tiwari, ACS Finance KAP Sinha, ACS Tourism Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary Investment Promotion-cum-Industries & Commerce Alok Shekhar, Principal Secretary Health Hussan Lal, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh and Secretary Local Government Ajoy Sharma.
