The two-day Punjab Progressive Investment Summit kicked off on Thursday with the State Industries Minister Sham Sunder Arora inaugurating an exhibition where leading domestic and global industries including ITC, Trident, Sonalika, Hero Electric Vehicle Private Limited, Cremica, among others, are showcasing their products.
The prominent among the MSMEs participating in the exhibition are Gilard Electronics Private Limited, Falcon Garden Tools Private Limited, Tynor Orthotics Private Limited, Shri Ram Panels Private Limited, and Windsor Industries Private Limited.
A special attraction in this sector was Allengers Medical System, a unit set up at Derabassi for supply of medical equipment to major hospitals like AIIMS, Safdarjung, and Ram Manohar Lohia in New Delhi, PGIMER and GMCH in Chandigarh, in addition to all Punjab Government hospitals.
The company claims 36 percent share of the total radiology equipment, especially X-ray machines, in hospitals in the whole of India.
Another highlight is the display of AM International, a Jalandhar-based unit showcasing sports products like Rugby balls and sports garments, and having the distinction of having supplied Rugby balls for the Rugby World Cup, 2019, held in Japan in November.
One of Asia’s largest cooperative federation, Punjab Markfed, is showcasing its flagship food products such Sohna bottled products, ready-to-eat cooked food products, mixed fruit jam, Sohna atta, natural honey, tomato ketchup etc.
One corner in the exhibition area has been set aside for budding startups to showcase their products. Some of the startups have also displayed their environment-friendly products, such as Texfab Ltd’s garment products made by recycling the waste plastic bottles. Similarly, Windsor Industry, Kurali, has exhibited biodegradable and compostable table ware products.
INNOVATION NEEDS TO BOOST PUNJAB’s GROWTH
The key speakers at the UK Country session during the ongoing Investors Summit believed that innovation is the key for Punjab’s growth, and there is no dearth of investment to further boost the state’s economy.
The discussions spanned possible avenues of collaboration across multiple sectors, including agriculture, food processing, textile and apparel sector, machine and hand tools, farm-tools manufacturing, automobile, bicycle components, sports goods, light engineering sector, metallurgy sector and renewable power.
The state’s Additional Chief Secretary (Cooperation) Kalpana Mittal Baruah, in her opening remarks and context setting, highlighted the state’s industrial policy saying that it was not only proving to be instrumental in providing congenial atmosphere to set up industry in Punjab but was also aiding the state’s growth.
UK Trade and Investment-India Director General Crispin Simon termed Punjab as the best place for industrial investment. He talked about biotechnology, skill development and setting up stores of rice in Punjab, and also appreciated the role of Punjab Government in addressing the problem of stubble burning.
UK India Business Council director Divya Dwivedi talked about collaboration between the UK and Punjab in aerospace, defense, data managing, innovation center and automobile sector.
CSIR-IMTECH director Dr Manoj Raje stressed on the need for microbial-based research in soil, water and pollution for bringing more industrial units in Punjab.
Birmingham City University’s Vice Chancellor Professor Philip Plowden stressed upon the need for collaboration between the universities of Punjab and UK as these would “result in scaling new heights in the field of education”.