CM firms up mega investment projects for state

Mumbai: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday firmed up major investment projects for state with leading companies like Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, RPG, Sify Technologies and JSW group expressing their willingness to invest in state.

During the meeting with Captains of these industries, the Chief Minister showcased Punjab as a land of opportunities and invited the companies to invest in the state. He said that entrepreneurs will be immensely benefited by investing in the state, which is rapidly emerging as the industrial hub of the country. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that Punjab has complete communal harmony, peace and amity, which are mainly responsible for overall development and prosperity in the state.

The Chief Minister said that knowing well that power is the engine of growth, the Punjab government is providing uninterrupted power to every sector be it residential, commercial or agriculture He urged the representative of the company to make optimum use of this congenial atmosphere backed by excellent infrastructure, power, skilled human resources and best industrial and work culture to spread their business. Extending a red carpet welcome to the industrialists, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state government was always open for new ideas and innovations to boost up the industrial growth in Punjab.

During a meeting with the Chief Minister, CEO of – Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Business (Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd) Damodharan Satagopan expressed his company’s keen interest in investing significantly in Punjab, citing the state’s conducive business environment and proactive governance. He highlighted Punjab’s strategic advantages, skilled workforce, infrastructure, Professional behavior of Bureaucracy that makes the state an attractive destination for pharmaceutical industries. He said that meeting marked the beginning of a promising partnership, poised to boost Punjab’s economy and create new opportunities. The company showed interest to expand its existing Taunsa project due to pro indusstrial policies of the state government.

Earlier, Damodar Satagopan apprised the Chief Minister that the Pharma company has an annual turnover of Rs 48,496 Crore and is currently operating in Toansa, Balachaur (SBS Nagar) and Mohali (SAS Nagar). He said that Sun Pharma is actively looking into business expansion through in-licensing, M&A and out licensing activities for branded products. He said that Sun Pharma also has a strategic interest in establishing Joint Ventures and Research Partnerships with world-renowned academia and institutes.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of RPG group Anant Goenka, while expressing desire of his group to invest in the state, appreciated the single window system created in Punjab as a single point solution to all difficulties faced by the industrialists. Showing his willingness to Invest in Punjab in a big way, he said that CEAT has expansion plans in Punjab as the state is an ideal hub for CEAT’s growth ambitions. He said that the group has already invested in a big way in the South and West adding that now it is the turn of Punjab.

President of Sify Technologies Ltd Daleep Kaul said that SIFY technologies have decided to set up a dedicated/captive data center in Mohali in the First Phase and invest Rs 1500 crore in Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Horizontal Data Centre in Punjab.

Meanwhile, JSW group has agreed to make further investments worth Rs 1600 crore in the state including expansion of JSW steel coating products and Business Heads of JSW Steel Coated Products Ltd Amarjit Singh Dahiya and Ashwani Kumar Sharma informed the Chief Minister that JSW Steel Coating Products Ltd has purchased 28.17 acres adjacent to the existing plant in Rajpura for expansion worth Rs 1600 Crore.