Punjab, which has already garnered an investment of Rs 15000 crore, today witnessed a Rs 365 crore investment, adjacent to the international border, with Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal handing over Letters of allotment and pre-feasible clearances to Kansai Nerolac Paints and Indian Oil Corporation (IoC) for setting up their plants here.Handing over these letters to M/s Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd and India Oil Corporation for investment in Goindwal, 60 kilometres away from the Indo-Pak international border, the Deputy Chief Minister said the Investment was attestation of the peaceful environment in the state and showacsed the investor confidence in Punjab. He said the globally renowned World Trade Centre would also soon come up at Mohali for which the state government had already allotted the land. “These and other projects which are already in the pipeline will provide jobs to one lakh persons” he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister said pre-cleared sites were being offered for the first time ever to both Nerolac and IOC. Mr. Badal said NOC as well as clearance from Forest, Powercom, Pollution and industries department besides Change of Land Use had also been given to both the companies. “As far as we are concerned both companies can start work as of today” he added.Mr. Badal said for the first time pre-cleared sites by creating a land pool of 300 acres were being offered to the investors. He said that investors could also also take advantage of industrial parks coming up in the state including 400 acres park at Rajpura.India’s second largest paint company M/s Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited has been allotted 35 acres of industrial land in Goindwal Industrial Complex for setting up of water based and powder coating paints with the project cost of around Rs. 250 crores. Likewise, the state government has also allotted 30 acres of land at Goindwal Industrial Complex to M/s Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. for setting up of LPG bottling plant with an investment of Rs. 115 crores.Answering a query on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said the international airport at Mohali would change the look and feel of industry in Punjab by joining the state globally. “I rate the establishment of this airport as my second big achievement after making Punjab a power surplus state. Now our thrust is to provide a world class road network in the state” he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister said with the formation of first of its kind Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP) providing one stop clearance mechanism, the state had been able to garner an investment worth Rs 15000 crore in a short span of one year. He said this investment excluded those in the telecom, real estate and healthcare sectors adding that if investment in these three sectors was also included then the state’s investment figure would be around Rs 50000 crore.The Deputy Chief Minister said it was a matter of great pride and honor that Punjab had now became the only state in the country where any prospective investor could get all the clearances by moving a single application through single window to a single person that too within a time frame of 38 days, which would be reduced to 30 days in the coming two months. “This is a first of its kind initiative in the world and no other state/ country can do it because it needs real political will and guts” he added.Likewise, Mr. Badal said in order to facilitate prospective investors the state government had already created a bank of 600 pre-cleared sites to offer them for setting up their ventures. He said that big industrial giants like ITC, Cargill, Amul, Infosys, DSM, Vardhman, Tube Investment and Azure Power were already setting up their units in the state.Mr. Badal said the distinction of Punjab being a power surplus state with excellent road, rail and air connectivity had resulted it in emerging as a favourite investment destination across the globe with several companies from Poland, Korea and others vying to invest in the state.
Earlier, welcoming the dignitaries the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Invest Punjab Mr. Anirudh Tiwari listed the achievements made by the state government in wooing the investments in the last one year. Mr. Tewari said Punjab have cleared 216 projects with investment of Rs 15000 crore. He said out of these 216 projects 39% were from Agro and food processing sector whereas 30% were from manufacturing sector. Mr. Tewari said ITC was setting up a foodpark near Kapurthala with a massive investment of Rs 900 crore, which was the largest plant of the company in India. He said apart from encouraging new industry the state government was also incentivizing the existing industry and the expansion projects launched by Sonalika, Nahar and Ultra Tech cement were a part of this initiative.
Speaking on the occasion Vice President Kansai Nerolac Paints Abhijit M. Natto, while appreciating the steps taken by Punjab government to ensure speedy clearance to their project, said the fast and speedy clearances were laudable. He said his company, which had a turnover of Rs. 4195 crores would cater to customers across the major paint segments such as decorative, wood coating, automotive, auto refinish, performance coating and powder coating.Likewise, Executive Director IOC Punjab, Parnav Kumar Das informed that this public sector undertaking, would setup its third LPG bottling plant with an investment of Rs. 115 crores. Hailing the Punjab government for giving expeditious clearances to the project within a month, he said that this project would involve cylinder bottling plant primarily to cater the commercial and domestic consumers/residents of Amritsar and nearby districts. Das said that Punjab government gave clearance to their project even before their Board of Directors could clear the same.Prominent amongst other present on the occasion Advisor to Chief Minister on National Affairs and Media Harcharan Bains, Media Advisor to Deputy CM Janveer Singh, Principal Secretary Investment Promotion Karan Avtar Singh and Special Principal Secretary to Deputy CM Rahul Tewari.