State offers liberal sops to rev up investments

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 26

If getting investors interested in Punjab was on top of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s mind in 2013, just before the first-ever Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, ensuring that these investments actually flow in the state is his top priority now. For this, he is offering pre-cleared sites with the promise of fixed power tariff.

At least 216 investors have submitted their proposals to the state government, of which 168 projects are now active. Maximum investment has been released in the agro-processing and manufacturing sectors and with most units coming up in Mohali, followed by Ludhiana and Amritsar, figures released by the government state.

Industry body ASSOCHAM had recently claimed that there was a fall of 63 per cent investment in the state on a year-on-year basis, between 2013-14 and 2014-15 — a claim disputed by the Punjab government. The state maintains that some of the biggest names in the industry — Infosys Technologies, ITC, Murugappa Group, Aditya Birla Group besides homegrown majors such as Sonalika Tractors and Nahar Industries are among those who are investing in the state. They have either started construction or are getting their building plans approved.

To rev up the investment scenario, before the second Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, scheduled for October 28-29, the government is now in action mode to present its report card and also offer additional incentives to woo investors. If Badal himself has been on a whirlwind tour to meet investors in India and abroad, Industry Minister Madan Mohan Mittal is wooing investors in China.

Besides the plethora of fiscal incentives being offered to investors under the Industrial Policy of 2013, including the VAT retention policy, seeing the low economic sentiment in the country, the state is now offering pre-cleared sites and assuring immunity hike in power tariff. “The incentives are unmatched and the Invest Punjab Bureau has made the process of getting clearances easier. We are hopeful that all major homegrown industries and foreign investors would choose Punjab as a preferred investment destination,” says Sukhbir.

The state that claims to have achieved the power-surplus status is offering immunity from annual power tariff hikes to all new investors. State-owned Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) is offering a chunk of land held by it to the Invest Punjab Bureau, which is getting all necessary clearances for setting up industry on this land.

Aniruddh Tiwari, CEO, Invest Punjab Bureau, says they have on offer over 600 pre-cleared sites. “The PSIEC is also offering another 1,500 sites, which will be allotted to the investors,” he said.

Two companies Kansai Nerolac and Indian Oil Corporation were today allotted pre-cleared sites at Goindwal Sahib, where they will set up a water emulsion paint unit and an LPG bottling unit. While Nerolac has committed to an investment of Rs250 crore, the IOC will invest Rs100 crore.