Punjab is all set to attract investment in agro processing, information technology and Ayurveda besides other sectors with owners and CEOs of top companies of Kerala and Tamil Nadu evincing interest in setting up shop in the State after meeting Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal here today.Besides one to one meetings with top industrialists, Mr Sukhbir Badal also addressed a meeting of the CII Southern Regional Council.During an interaction with the Deputy chief minister, Blue Star Executive Director B Thyagarajan suggested CII could partner with Punjab through the Centre for Agriculture Excellence to provide marketing knowledge to farmers. "We are keen to build forward and backward linkages to ensure farmers can market their produce profitably", he said. Mr Thyagarajan said his company was also keen to invest in the green park coming up at Ludhiana.
IBS Software Executive Chairman V K Marhews said his company was looking for avenues to expand in the Northern Region and Mohali with its assurance of quality resources and superb social infrastructure was a good bet. He said he would himself lead a company team to Chandigarh to take this proposal forward. He displayed keen interest in visiting the IT park in Mohali where Infosys is coming up with a 25,000 seat strong facility.Later Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal made a detailed presentation at the CII meeting. He detailed how the SAD - BJP government had worked with a mission to make the State power surplus besides improving connectivity by establishing two international and four domestic airports. He said within one year every village in the State would be 4 G connected.Mr Badal said due to these efforts as well as establishing a single point clearance in the Invest Punjab office, the State had been successful in clearing 210 projects with an investment of Rs 1500 crore in the last one and a half year. He said all necessary clearances to set up new units would be given in 30 days time.Badal said the system had succeeded with no investor needing to meet him, any other minister or the chief minister."All you have to do is visit the office of Invest Punjab where you have to deal with one person only", he added.
During a question answer session, industrialist Anuradha Sriram from Puducherry succinctly expressed the mood of the gathering by saying "your presentation has put Punjab in all our minds". Among the questions Mahesh Desai wanted to know if the incentive of VAT retention was applicable to small and medium enterprises also. The Deputy CM informed that all incentives were applicable to investments above Rs one crore. He also told another prospective investor that hoteliers could retain both VAT and luxury tax. Mr Badal also assured investors that all incentives announced by the State would continue to be given even after introduction of GST.Rajshree Pathy, Chairman Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals, welcomed the Deputy CM on behalf of CII Southern Regional Council.Punjab Industry minister Madan Mohan Mittal also chaired meetings with prospective investors separately. Others present included CPS Mr. N K Sharma, Mr Jangveer Singh, Media Advisor to the Deputy CM, Mr Karan Avtar Singh, Principal Secretary Investment Promotion, Mr Anirudh Tewari, CEO Invest Punjab, Mr Rahul Tewari, special principal secretary to Deputy CM and Mr Amit Dhaka, MD, PSIEC.