Conferences planned with Singapore-Germany

Punjab has just entered the international race to woo investors for its industrialization programme for adding value to its agriculture-based economy.

The northern state, which produces 40% of food requirements of India, concedes that land-holdings were becoming smaller and smaller while industrialization would complement the economy and provide jobs for the younger generation.

The Punjab government has set a target of getting US$30 billion investments in industries in 2020, riding on its success of winning project investment from nine companies of the United Arab Emirates, according to B.S. Kohli, Advisor to Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion.

“We don’t talk about MoUs at all. As a government, we are committed to only announce projects which have been signed and investment is on the ground,” said Kohli at an investment conference in Singapore on 25 Mar  2019.

At a UAE-Punjab Investment Roundtable held in the emirates on 11 March 2019, Punjab offered opportunities in logistics, infrastructure, cash-and-carry business (hypermarts), food processing and for providing sustainable water solutions.

The investments that fructify during the interaction, a third between the state government and representatives of the UAE-based companies since October 2018, has given a boost to the state as a destination for foreign direct investment.

The UAE companies studying the offered projects are Lulu Group, DP World, Hyperloop One, Sharaf Group, Emaar, DMCC, NIIF, United Phosphates and Metito Group. DP World is set to participate in the Pathankot Logistics Hub, which is designed to tap into supplies from the northern most states of India including Himachal Pradesh.

Punjab has already tapped US$5.6 billion investment to date, and Kohli is confident of achieving this target of US$10 billion.

Kohli listed out Punjab’s investor-to-investor strategy where projects are presented with complete state government support and accelerated pace investment clearances.

The US$5.6 billion was raised over the last 23 months, but a large part of it was confirmed following the UAE-Punjab roundtable.

The Punjab government expects to host a second Singapore-Punjab conference on one-to-one basis with investors along with project presentations in June this year.

The third Germany-Punjab investors-to-projects basis conference is  also being planned for the year.

The strategy is to sit on the roundtable and talk about projects and investments.

Highlighting the urgent need for job creating industries for the state’s youths, Kohli said: “We are not competing with other Indian states for investments, we are running a different race.”

He conceded Punjab was late at the start up line for winning investors both local and foreign, but the pace was being accelerated.

“We need to work on changing our agriculture pattern into industry and value addition,” he said on the sidelines of a conference on “Doing Business with Indian States: Opportunities and Way Forward” held in Singapore on 25 Mar 2019.

“We need to create jobs for our youths as land holdings is becoming lesser and lesser,” Kohli told some 180 business executives at the conference. fiinews.com