Punjab News- Punjab ready to give preferential market access to electronic hardware and food processing industry – Sukhbir Badal

Bangalore, October 1, 2013 – Punjab Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today told the captains of industry that his government was ready to give preferential market access to entrepreneurs setting up electronic hardware and agro processing units in Punjab in order to encourage investment into the State.

Addressing top industrialists at the Investment Summit held here as part of the Progressive Punjab summit which will be held in Chandigarh on December 9 -10, the Deputy chief minister said while Punjab had already announced a host of incentives for new investments including 80 per cent retention of VAT (Value Added Tax) and CST (Central Sales Tax), he was ready to go the extra mile to invite investment into the State.

Badal said investors setting up industries in key areas including electronic hardware and food processing besides few other sectors which would be identified by the government soon, would get the first choice to bid for government as well as orders from various boards and corporations including the State power utility.

On a suggestion from Sanjeev Keskar of the India Electronics and Semi Conductors Association, the Deputy chief minister also agreed to establish an incubation centre at Mohali which could help small entrepreneurs to work on electronic systems and semi conductor design. Keskar assured the Deputy CM that his organisation would partner with the State government to make the incubation centre a success.

In another major decision, Sukhbir Badal announced the establishment of a task force headed by former STPI (Sortware Technology Parks of India) head B V Naidu to help the State transform Mohali as a knowledge destination. Naidu is part of the task force constituted by the Karnataka government to come up with a roadmap for investment and employment targets for 2020.

In his presentation, which was lauded by the industry later, Badal said his mandate was that Punjab should be the best State as far as ease of doing business was concerned. Outlining the opportunities available for doing business, he said the government was keen on developing a textile hub in the Malwa region which was a cotton growing area. He said Amritsar and Ferozepur had been designated as a food centre, Mohali and Amritsar as an IT hub, Bathinda as a Petro Park, Patiala as Automobile hub, Ludhiana as hosiery hub and Jalandhar as sports and leather goods centre.

Listing the initiatives taken by the government to make this possible, the Deputy CM said the government had appointed senior officials as relationship managers and ensured online interface. Among the next steps being taken by the government, Badal said the government was committed to remove redundant clearances and inspections.

Asserting that the incentives including those of VAT and CST would pay back the cost of the project in due course, he said a further advantage would be opening up of the Wagah border. He said while 140 items were being exported presently, this list was likely to go up to 1400 items in a few months. This, he said, would open up the entire Central Asian market for entrepreneuers.

Industry minister Madan Mohan Mittal while speaking said incentives were being given in the entire State and that they were directly commensurate to investment. He gave the example of the textile industry saying anyone investing more than Rs 150 crore would be able to retain as much as 90 per cent of VAT and CST for ten years.

Speaking on behalf of the Punjab industry, Trident group head Rajinder Gupta said during the last 25 years he had been doing business in the State not a single day of production had been lost due to labour unrest. He said the State had the best connectivity and would be power surplus by December this year.

Others present included Cisco Director Global Policy Harish Krishnan, Sandeep Maini of Reva, M C S Reddy of Lanco Infrastructure, V Raja of GMR Infrastructure, Sunil Bhasin of Technicolor, Gaurav K Punjabi of Latitude Edutech,  Ashish Puravankara of Puravankara reality, V Madhu of Providend Housing Limited and Ghanshyam Dass, Chairman FIG Consultants besides others.

The Deputy CM was accompanied by chief parliamentary secretary N K Sharma, chief secretary Rakesh Singh, Principal Secretary to the Deputy CM – P S Aujla, Principal Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Housing Secretary Venu Prasad and Punjab Infotech MD D K Tewari. EOM