In the early foot of the second Progressive Punjab Investors’ summit; Punjab government has guaranteed to pump more than Rs.96000 crore, meanwhile signing MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with around 400 companies.
Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit 2015, started at International Business School (ISB) campus on 28th October, has seen some top corporates of the country, which included Chanda Kochhar (CEO ICICI Bank ltd.), GVK Reddy (Chairmen GVK Power) and Gautam Adani (Chairmen Adani Enterprises). This two-days summit was inaugurated by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The other dignitaries included deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union food Processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Minitsers of Punjab Cabinet.
The major worry of Punjab is 100% implementation, like how many MoUs would result in actual investment. In first summit nearly 128 MoU were signed which amounted to Rs.68000 crore, whereas in physical scenario only 45% of committed amount is invested in past two years, to be exact on figures the state has seen investment of Rs.30000 crore.
“Other than the promise of investment, the whole effort is to also generate the requisite environment to show the world that Punjab is a favoured investment destination,” said DK Tewari of PBIP.
The high-promoted summit has followed the unrest in the state, The SAD-BJP led government has faced crisis after crisis. First was from drawn farmers on failed cotton crops, which turned violent. Second major crisis was the violent protest by Sikh bodies against discretion of Guru Granth Sahib.
However, the organizers claims that these crises will not affect the summit “More than 100 heads of top corporate houses are expected to be at the event and there has not been a single cancellation citing Punjab situation as the reason,” said DK Tewari of Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP).
The State government with a focus of making this summit a successful one, has already spent nearly Rs. 5 crore in organizing this event. In addition to this more than 100 bureaucrats have been involved, while a major number among them are working as liaising officer for the guests. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal have been meeting corporate heads of country.
The summit will focus on the opportunities in aerospace and defence, a green field area for Punjab. The state has offered Mohali as a possible civil aviation maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) hub. The government also wants the Integrated Aerospace and Defence Park to be set up here. These are the fields other than primary focus areas of summit, which has Power, Agriculture, IT & ITes, Tourism, Manufacturing and Health.
