Mohali: Assuring the captains of the industry of creating conducive ecosystem for investment in the state, 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 and 27 with theme of ‘Progressive Punjab-A story of Partnership, Delivery and 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.”
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 creates hurdles in your business plans."
Pointing out further, the Chief Minister briefly enumerated the immense contribution of the 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.
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 the 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 and 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, 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.
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.
Chairman and 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 the 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.
