Open House: What steps should the govt take to invite investors & industry to the district?

Find reason behind the investor’s staying away

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The government should conduct a survey on industries and understand why investors are not coming to invest in the state. Efforts should be made to turn the state into a tech hub. This includes doing a lot of groundwork like providing better infrastructure — good roads, cleanliness, water supply, etc. Then advertisements should be given at the national and international level. The government should provide a public portal, where techies from the city, can volunteer to connect with the state government. The government should verify the credentials of such people. People from the state, who are already working in the tech industry, can help industries invest in the state. The crime rate is so high in Punjab these days. Strict steps like registration of all hawkers, vendors, etc, need to be taken. What is more important is that the police department must recruit more personnel. Besides, the police force must be tech-savvy. Give a couple of industries, on an experiment basis, whatever they want like economic zones, discounted rates, etc. Once these industries will establish themselves here, many other investors will automatically get attracted. Ensure that the state delivers speedy justice. This includes recruiting more judges, more automation (like small cases resolved online or via emails without having to appear in court).

Sudeep Singh

Offer them electricity at cheaper rates

In order to attract corporate houses to the state, the state government should provide the investors electricity at cheaper rates. To encourage investment through them in the state, tax concessions and huge incentives should be offered to them. Last but not least, land should be earmarked for them across the state at cheaper rates so that they feel motivated to set up shop here.

Sanjay Chawla

Give good incentives to attract investors

It cannot be gainsaid that before the arrival of the British, there was no industry as such in India. But after Partition, Punjab emerged on the industrial map, even though on a small scale. Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar earned fame for their textiles, bicycles, mopeds, sports goods, printing presses, fans, etc, but the offer of huge subsidies by Himachal and Haryana sounded the death knell of Punjab industrial units. Operation Bluestar followed by power-hungry politicians missed the bus to nurture the IT industry in the 1990s, which found a proper place in south India. We also missed the opportunity to set up semi conductor in the state. The plan to develop Goindwal as an industrial hub failed miserably, but the government learnt nothing from the venture. Now, District Industries Offices should be equipped with useful current information and they should actually guide entrepreneurs in manufacturing and marketing rather than fleece them on flimsy excuses. The architecture of new units must ensure utilisation of solar energy and they should be established in suburban areas. Tata is going to set up a steel plant in Punjab. Its auxiliary units will have a good future as also agro-industrial units. In fact, the state should try to make whatever it uses. India is the biggest consumer market of the world. That is the essence of Make in India.

PROF MOHAN SINGH

Industrialists want peaceful environment

The state government has failed to attract big corporate houses and MNCs in large numbers to set up shop here. In fact, many of the existing companies have shifted part of their operations to neighbouring states as these are being provided good incentives, cheap labour and power, and peaceful environment. It must be remembered that it takes a lot of time, money and effort to start production. So, whatever is promised or assured by the government should be implemented and delivered, irrespective of the change of guard in the state. The mindset of implementing agencies has to be objective and positive. Political compulsions and vote-bank politics should not come in the way of the implementation of the industrial policy. Any delay in commencing the production costs dearly. The government can further learn lessons from the case study of rise and fall of India’s first Nucleus Industrial Complex at Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran district.

Lt-Col Amarjit Singh

Simplify bureaucratic approval process

Despite having some geographical disadvantages, Punjab can take numerous measures to attract corporate houses to the state. These measures include creating a conducive regulatory framework, simplifying the bureaucratic approval process, and providing online services to entrepreneurs and investors to improve the ease of doing business. Punjab has made significant progress in implementing reforms to improve in this regard, and according to the Business Reform Action Plan 2020 Report, it ranked 7th among the Indian states in the ease of doing business with a score of 97.68 per cent. To further attract corporate investments, the government could also improve infrastructure by developing industrial parks, corridors, and clusters, upgrading road, rail, and air networks, and ensuring competitive 24X7 uninterrupted power and water supply. To promote human capital and skill formation, the government should strengthen the education and training system, create linkages between industry and academia, and facilitate the employability and mobility of the workforce, especially in emerging sectors such as IT, biotechnology, renewable energy, etc. It can also offer sector-specific incentives and subsidies by designing policies, providing tax and non-tax concessions, and ensuring timely and transparent delivery of the schemes, particularly in the priority sectors like agro and food processing, textiles and engineering, etc, to boost the industrial growth and employment generation. Moreover, to create a conducive environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, the government must foster a culture of R&D, support startups and incubators, and facilitate access to finance and markets.

Kulwant Singh Phull

Ensure environment free of corruption

To boost investment in the state, the government should further strengthen its policies. What industries look for is cheap electricity and land, proper law and order, rational taxation policy, better infrastructure, availability of skilled manpower, and above all corruption-free environment. After liberalisation and globalisation, every state of India wants investment from industry. The industry of Punjab can be divided into two parts: First, already existing industries, e.g. steel industry in Mandi Gobingarh, textile in Bathinda region, basmati rice export, leather and sports industry in Jalandhar, and cycle industry in Ludhiana. The second component is newly emerging sectors like the semiconductor industry, electric vehicles, organic food industry and biofuel production, etc. Both types of industry need support. Punjab being a prominent agrarian economy needs heavy investment in the agri-food industry. The state needs proper crop diversification plans to save its water resources. Oilseeds, pulses, vegetables and spice crops need to be grown and processed. The Punjab Government should bring the contract farming law where both the farmer as a producer and the company as a processor and marketer should get the benefit. Institutions working to bring investment to Punjab also need to be strengthened. In addition, Punjab should bring about amendments to the education system where young ones need to become managers of future corporate instead of going abroad. Above all, the state should improve its relations with the Central Government to recover its dues where its pending funds like rural development or GST are still pending and that should be used for creating better infrastructure.

Harvinder Singh Chugh

Focus must be on food processing industry

Peace, law and order, subsidies, tax holiday, land allocation at subsidized rates are some of the major issues which draw corporate/business houses. At present different states in the country are carrying out industrial summits to woo industrialists. Punjab is known for woollen hosiery manufacturing, sports good manufacturing, hand tools industry which has the distinction of exporting goods throughout the world. Sarson ka saag is marketed and exported abroad by Markfed. As Punjab is an agriculture state, the government should focus on food processing industry so that the manufactured produce in the state can be processed and agriculture produce in the state be shifted through processing towards agriculture industry. Ludhiana is known as the Manchester of Punjab. Similarly, Mandi Gobindgarh is known for steel industry, Mohali for IT Industry, Jalandhar for sports and surgical, hand tool industry, and Amritsar known for carpet industry. The Punjab Government should earmark barren land for heavy industrial units, which can give jobs to unemployed youths and generate revenue for the state.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Create common land pool for bigger units

Conducive environment and facilitation to the investor are the pre-requisites for investment promotion. With this motive, the Punjab Government launched BusinessFirst portal to provide a single window interface to the Industry and businesses to invest in the state. The government is also arranging investment summits at potential places, offering investors Ease of Doing Business for all regulatory and fiscal services. Despite this good initiative, there is no breakthrough in attracting major investments while the state is dragged to further low, ranking 16th on national start-up list. Though basic infrastructure exists in the state and people are hard working here, new businesses are not willing to invest in the state. Facing unemployment problems, youth from the area is migrating abroad in search of work opportunities. This needs thorough introspection and earnest efforts to find a way out. While the security aspect of the men and materials is the prime issue, entrepreneurs also require financial support and marketing stability to undertake innovative ventures. The state output in the traditional agriculture field has touched optimum stage. Agro-processing units may be encouraged to have value addition. In the backdrop of remarkable contribution of the state to the food bowl of the nation, it deserves higher assistance from Central bourses. It is also vital from the point of view that the state has often been subjected to vicious disturbances and cross-border terrorism due to its strategic location. There is no dearth of talent and entrepreneurial skills, but it lacks trust and concerted efforts to progress further. Besides, the need of the hour is enduring peace, but land prices are very high in the region. As such, the government ought to create a common land pool for the establishment of bigger units. NRIs settled abroad hail from this area in a substantial number, they may be tapped to become potential investors. The MSME sector has a wider scope for inclusive development and it has to be given an impetus by the government. Top of all, improvement in law and order of the state should derive prime focus as the industry and businesses grow only under a peaceful environment.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Why not introspect & take remedial steps?

It is unfortunate that despite the Punjab Government’s efforts to attract large industrial investment in various sectors, nothing tangible has been achieved so far. The situation needs introspection to take coherent and effective remedial measures. One of the apparent reasons is attributable to lack of substantial improvement on the law and order front. Though the government claims to have achieved substantial progress in eliminating the drug menace, mafia culture and gangsters, yet the credibility is still eluding as ground realities appear to be in conflict with the claims. The second biggest handicap is the lack of infrastructural support for big industrial ventures for which a massive government investment is required. Given the prevalence of huge debt and a surging gap between state revenue and expenditures due to the politics of subsidy, the possibilities of sparing the required funds appear to be very dim. Besides, the government must prove its credentials by implementing the promised incentives and ensuring a fast single-window-clearance mechanism for potential Investment in the state.

JAGDISH CHANDER

QUESTION for next week

Residents are fed up with piles of garbage near their houses, colonies and almost everywhere. What steps should the district administration take to ensure timely removal of garbage heaps?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to amritsardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (Jan 4)