In order to propel the agrarian state into development trajectory, Punjab Industries and Commerce Minister Gurkirat Singh on Wednesday reiterated his commitment to keep the business first approach towards the investors and make them partners in Punjab’s Story of Progress. “Punjab is not only headed towards a promising future, but the State Government will take all possible steps to ensure that it becomes the industrial powerhouse that powers the country,” said Gurkirat Singh, while addressing an Interactive session at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandigarh.Punjab Government has recently reached the historic milestone of having investments worth Rs 1.02 lakh crores under various stages of implementation, he said, adding that more than 52% of these projects have achieved commercial production, while another 36% are in various stages of construction.“I am very hopeful that India’s leading industrial houses with national/international presence but are not yet present in Punjab will soon make Punjab their home,” said Gurkirat Singh.He said that for developing urban and industrial infrastructure, the state government has adopted the cluster approach and have augmented the land bank in Punjab to encompass more than 6,000 acres by developing 3 mega industrial parks in Ludhiana, Bathinda and Patiala.
As a business centric Government, we have identified the needs of the industry especially in terms of Infrastructure, Ease of Doing Business, Fiscal & Non-Fiscal Incentives etc, he added. “I am happy to share that the State Government has already notified most of the announcements including Abolishment of institutional tax, Elimination of 50% electricity fixed charges for medium industries, Relaxation of rules for width of approach roads for industries, Extension of Punjab Right to Business Act 2020 to expansion units, Exemption from CLU for standalone industrial units,” said Gurkirat Singh, while assuring that remaining announcements will be notified shortly.While listening to the suggestions from Industrialists during an Interaction session, the Minister said, “I will be your advocate to articulate all your needs and concerns.”“We have achieved a lot in the last four and half years, however, there is much more that needs to be done. I have taken note of the issues and suggestions made by you, I assure you that we will make them part of our manifesto,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman Punjab Information & Communication Technology Corporation Limited Harpreet Singh Sandhu said that Covid-19 has demonstrated the importance of digital randomness which allowed businesses to continue their operations. Through Infotech and through our technology, we plan to go towards the online mode to give a full big bang to the ongoing corruption and to save time of our people of Punjab, he added.Chairman CII Punjab State and Sr VP & CEO Sukhjit Starch & Chemicals Limited Bhavdeep Sardana acknowledged the fact that the state government has brought many reforms in the key sectors including Governance, Agriculture, Power and Industry. He suggested improvement in implementation strategies, continuity in policies and programs, which would help Punjab in achieving the desired results.Dr P J Singh, Convenor, CII Punjab Policy Advocacy Panel and Chairman & Managing Director, Tynor Orthotics Limited suggested further focus on ease of doing business by granting of permits and licenses smoothly, providing clearances within stipulated time or making them deemed approvals in most of the cases as far as possible.Amit Jain, Managing Director, Shingora Textiles Limited termed this interaction as way to develop a broad vision for the overall development of the state and make it future-ready.