After Mohali, Rajpura could be future hub for industry

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 7

Rajpura in Punjab is set to figure on global map, as a private player has set up an industrial park spread over 255 acres. Having already sold plots to Indian and American companies, it expects an investment potential of Rs 2,000 crore in the park across various sectors such as manufacturing, food processing, furniture and warehousing. The park will be inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh tomorrow. 

“We had invested around Rs 1,000 crore in Mohali and created IT infrastructure where around 15,000 IT professionals are currently working. Later, we realised that there is a need to create jobs for common man, especially in manufacturing and logistics space. So we have developed an industrial park at Rajpura,” QuarkCity chairman Fred Ibrahimi told The Tribune today. 

“In the first phase, we have developed 255 acres.  A couple of plots have already been sold to American and Indian companies and we are in talks with Germans to set up their manufacturing units here,” he added. 

According to QuarkCity's chief operating officer Rajesh Sharma, the company has already received committed investment of around Rs 320 crore from three players in logistics, manufacturing and electric products sector and talks are going on to attract more investment in the industrial park. Some of the companies that intend to set up units here are Indospace (Rs 250-300 crore), Geekan Design (Rs 5-10 crore) and Virgo Mark (Rs 5-10 crore). In the first phase, QuarkCity has invested Rs 150 crore for creating infrastructure, which includes cost of land. 

Overall, the company intends to develop 650 acres at the industrial park. The company sees an investment potential of Rs 5,000 crore once the entire park is operational. 

“The American and European companies are not interested in expanding their base in China because of intellectual property rights (IPRs) issue. As compared to China, there is respect for IPRs in India. We are banking on this very factor and persuading these companies to invest in India, particularly Punjab, as it is much easier to start a business here," Ibrahimi said. "Punjab has a potential and people here are very hard working. Given the right infrastructure, there is no stream where they can't compete,” he said. 

After IT city in Mohali, Quark also intends to set up furniture, construction material and auto parts unit in the industrial park. 

“We are working on modalities to set up a unit for furniture and construction material to cater to Indian and overseas market. We are also contemplating to set up auto parts manufacturing in Rajpura in a joint venture with a German company. Overall, our investment will be Rs 2,000 crore in different ventures,” he said. 

Besides, the Punjab government also intends to develop an industrial park spread across 1,000 acres in Rajpura. Punjab Chief Minister has already constituted a committee to check feasibility of setting up an industrial park.

Industrial park

Area 
255 acres 

Investment potential
Rs 2,000 crore

Sectors 
Manufacturing, food processing, furniture, warehousing