Assuring the Captains of the industry of creating conducive ecosystem for investment in the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday reiterated his government’s firm commitment to act a true facilitator showing zero tolerance for political or bureaucratic corruption, negative attitude, delays and inertia.Delivering his keynote address on the Plenary Session of 4th Progressive Punjab Investors Summit 2021 here at Indian School of Business, the Chief Minister said that Punjab would live up to their expectations as Punjab is the best place to do business in India.Expressing his gratitude to all the visionaries who joined virtually on the first day of two-days Progressive Punjab Investors Summit-2021 on October 26 & 27 with theme of ‘Progressive Punjab-A story of Partnership, Delivery & Growth: Investors Reassured’, the Chief Minister said their valuable suggestions and input would help the state government to further fine tune the existing industrial policy by incorporating some requisite amendments to make it far more investor friendly.The Chief Minister further said that he comes from a humble background and had gone through the grill of day-to-day challenges faced by a common man and has first-hand knowledge of their problems. Channi said, “I have also seen that aspiring young generation of Punjab which wants to do something big and I am committed to fulfill their dreams and unable to do this without you....without your support.” He termed the industrialist as wealth creators in the society and a source of opportunities to cherish the aspirations of state’s youth.Exhorting the tycoons of industry, Channi said, “You have the capital, you have the risk taking capacity and you have business ideas. I have the will, I have the intent and I have the commitment. I give my commitment to you all today that our government will work with you at every step to see that nothing from the government hinders your speed or create hurdles in your business plans. Come let’s team up to deliver the true potential of your organization and the state.
Let’s work together towards mutual growth and progress.” Channi aspired to further improve state’s ranking from top 10 to becoming top 5 states in the country in terms of attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). He said the state has developed a land bank of 6000 acres with Plug & Play facilities and created an efficient skill development ecosystem with active participation of industry. Punjab Skill Development Mission has also been revamped to cater to futuristic skills for Industry.Pointing out further, the Chief Minister briefly enumerated the immense contribution of Country’s top most companies including; International Tractors Limited with Japanese collaboration Yanmar India at Hoshiarpur, India’s largest petroleum refinery in private sector- HMEL at Bathinda, ITC’s biggest food processing unit of North India at Kapurthala, Aarti Steel- a part of global value chain of EV giant Tesla at Ludhiana, Sun Pharmaceutical facilities at Mohali in Tonsa, Trident Unit at Barnala and Hero Cycles in the industrial development of state. Channi said that all this would not have been possible without the great Punjabi spirit and congenial atmosphere in the state.In his address, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal highly lauded the immense contribution of stalwarts of industry in scripting the new chapter of industrialization in the state as Punjab has already reached a point of saturation in agriculture and now to boost industry is the need of the hour. He said that the Punjabis are known for their resilience and valour throughout the world that’s why they ushered in green revolution thus making the country self-reliant in food production besides playing a vanguard role in protecting its national security.Earlier, in his welcome address the Industries & Commerce Minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli said this Progressive Punjab Investors Summit would go a long way to boost the confidence of prospective industrialists and investors to further propel Punjab as the most preferred destination not only within the country but across the globe. He assured the industrialists of fulsome support and cooperation to accord all necessary clearances/approvals for setting up their units in a fast track mode.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari said that Punjab believes in collaborative partnerships to promote inclusive growth and balanced regional development of the state. With the entrepreneurial spirit of industry and supportive policies of the government, the state government wants to make Punjab a global manufacturing hub and is committed to provide all support that industry needs for its growth.On the occasion, Channi planted a mango sapling in the campus of ISB to mark Investors Summit 2021.While proposing the vote of thanks, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce Tejveer Singh said that Punjab government’s strong commitment to further improve the business environment in state and to ensure stability and continuity in policies would certainly take the industrial growth to new heights besides state’s focus on industry, business and employment. Sharing his vision about initiatives of Invest Punjab to give impetus to industrialization, Chairman Trident Group Rajinder Gupta who present on the occasion, said being a Punjabi to the core his industry with the liberal policies of Punjab government has progressed by leaps and bounds and announced an expansion of Rs.2000 crore on this historic occasion.Meanwhile, Chairman & MD, HUL Sanjiv Mehta announced to invest Rs. 1200 crore and Chancellor Amity University Dr. Atul Chauhan announced to invest Rs. 300 crore in next two years in higher education sector. Apart from this, Chairman Mahindra Group Anand G Mahindra also announced to set up its third Tractor factory in the state shortly besides setting up a hotel project near Pathankot.Several other industrialists including Vice Chairman and MD JK Paper Ltd. Harsh Pati Singhania, Founder & MD Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Dilip Shanghvi, MD & CEO Invest India Deepak Bagla, MD Yanmar India Kazunori Ajiki, Chairman-Europe Hinduja Group Prakash P Hinduja, Additional Secretary DPIIT Ms. Sumita Dawra, Chairman & MD ITC Sanjiv Puri, Japanese Ambassador to India Satoshi Suzuki, Chairman Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla and Executive Chairman Arcelor Mittal Lakshmi N. Mittal shared their experiences and inputs about their partnerships in various industrial ventures across the state.The function was also attended by Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Hussan Lal and CEO Invest Punjab Rajat Aggarwal.