Punjab CM invites investment proposals from India Inc. in Mumbai

Mumbai, Aug 21 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann met several leaders of the India Inc. during his two-day visit to the state and firmed various major investment proposals for his state, government officials said here on Wednesday.

Major corporates like Sun Pharmaceuticals, RPG Group, Sify Technologies and JSW Group were among the companies which expressed their willingness to invest in Punjab or strengthen their existing presence there.

Among the top business leaders who called on Mann included Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd' Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients Business CEO Damodharan Satagopan, RPG Group's Vice-Chairman Anant Goenka, Sify Technologies President Daleep Kaul and business heads of JSW Steel Coated Products Ltd. Amarjit Singh Dahiya and Ashwani Kumar Sharma.

Offering to lay out the red carpet for businesses, the Chief Minister showcased Punjab (also known as "Land of Five rivers") as full of opportunities and invited the companies to invest there as the state is rapidly emerging as an industrial hub in the country, and assured the state's readiness to embrace new ideas and innovations to boost its industrial growth.

Besides, Mann said that Punjab has complete social harmony, peace and amity, which are mainly responsible for overall development and prosperity in the state, providing uninterrupted power to every sector, besides offering excellent infrastructure, skilled human resources, plus the best industrial and work cultures to enable them to expand their businesses across various sectors.

Satagopan highlighted Punjab's strategic advances, a professional bureaucracy and other aspects while expressing interest to expand its existing Taunsa project in the state that would help boost its economy and create fresh opportunities.

He said that the company is currently operating in Taunsa, Balachaur and Mohali, and is looking to expand through in-licensing, M&A and out-licensing activities for its branded projects, plus setting up joint ventures and research partnership with globally renowned academic institutions.

Lauding the single-window-clearance, Goenka expressed readiness to invest in Punjab through RPG Group's CEAT after its huge presence in south and west India.

Kaul said that SIFY technologies has decided to set up a dedicated/captive data centre in Mohali in the first phase and invest Rs 1,500 crore in artificial intelligence-based horizontal data centre in Punjab.

Dahiya and Sharma have agreed to hike investments worth Rs 1,600 crore through expansion of JSW Steel coating products, for which the company has purchased 28 acres of land adjacent to its existing plant in Rajpura.

Various top industry leaders hailed the investor-friendly policies of the Mann government and assured their full support and cooperation to catapult the state on a high trajectory of economic growth.