ITC limited, one of India’s leading multi-business corporates, has decided to further increase its investment in the integrated Food Park’s development at Kapurthala to Rs 1,700 crore.
Conveying the same to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the ITC delegation, led by CEO Sanjiv Puri on Wednesday informed that the Company planned to start commercial production from the plant — “the biggest of its kind in the country” — from October this year.
Besides atta, biscuits and snacks, the project would include manufacture of juices and dairy products.
Spokesperson said that the ITC delegation informed the Chief Minister that the company would be purchasing one million tonnes of wheat, along with one lakh tonnes of potatoes, every year from the state for the food park, which would generate around 5,000 jobs for the people of the state.
Capt Amarinder has directed the concerned officials of the state government to extend all possible help to enable the company to meet its October deadline for the food park’s operationalisation, said the spokesperson.
The food park, for which the MoU was originally signed in 2013, will mark further expansion in the investments of ITC, which is already running three hotels, in the state.
The initial investment planned in the project was Rs 680 crore, which was subsequently, in 2015, enhanced to Rs 1,400 crore, which the company now plans to increase further to Rs 1,700 crore.
Chief Minister also directed CEO Invest Punjab to examine all the pending issues raised by the company so that these could be addressed on the priority to their satisfaction.