With a focus on putting the state’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector on the centre stage of the global value chain, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will hold an interactive session with the corporate who’s who at the two-day Punjab Progressive Investors Summit, starting on Thursday.
Country’s leading corporate honchos, including Sunil Mittal, Uday Kotak, Sanjiv Puri, are expected to attend the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit being organized by the Punjab Government.
The Chief Minister’s session on ‘Blueprint for Accelerating Growth’ will have East India Hotels (EIH) executive chairman PRS Oberoi, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Executive Vice Chairman and MD Uday Kotak, ITC Group chairman Sanjiv Puri, Hinduja Group Europe chairman Prakash Hinduja, Hero Enterprise chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, and Vardhman Textiles’ vice-chairman and joint managing director Suchita Jain as participants.
The session will take place from 2.35 pm to 3.05 pm, on a day packed with a series of exciting sessions aimed at catapulting the State as a front-ranker favoured investment destination for domestic and global players.
The keynote address by Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to India, will set the tone of the two panel discussions — ‘Blueprint for Accelerating Growth’ and ‘Building Partnerships for Inclusive Growth’ during the afternoon session. HMEL MD and CEO Prabh Das will share his experiences during the session, which will also see MSME Awards and HDFC Loan Disbursal.
The second panel discussion of the afternoon session will be participated by Bharti Enterprise chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, HDFC MD Aditya Puri, DLF vice-chairman Rajeev Singh, Sharaf Group vicechairman Sharafuddin Sharaf, and Bharat Hotels (Lalit Hotels) CMD Jyotsna Suri.
The two-day event aimed at showcasing the investment climate in Punjab and offers opportunities for prospective collaborations. It would provide a platform for global leaders, industrialists and experts to come together to share their narratives on emerging markets or trends, and discuss ways to address the shifting industry requirements in this age of disruptions, said the state Additional Chief Secretary (Invest Punjab) Vini Mahajan.
PUNJAB PARTNERS WITH WEF TO DESIGN PILOT ON SHARED, CLEAN, ELECTRIC MOBILITY
To combat the growing problem of environmental pollution in the state, the Punjab Government has partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to design a public-private pilot on shared, clean and electric mobility.
The state, which is also formulating its own EV (electric vehicle) policy to support the adoption of e-vehicles, has been chosen for the pilot by WEF as it is well-positioned for shared EV transition, and already houses an existing auto component manufacturing base, besides having skilled labour and being power surplus.
The pilot will examine how public and private sectors can interplay to offer the most robust and successful EV ecosystem, as part of the collaboration to be formulated at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2020, said the state Additional Chief Secretary (Investment Promotion and Industries & Commerce) Vini Mahajan.
Mahajan said that the study will form a blueprint for EV implementation across cities and countries worldwide.
The collaboration is just one of the initiatives being taken by the State Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, to promote e-mobility as a way to transform Punjab’s transport system into a cleaner one.
The State has already banned new registrations of diesel or petrol three-wheelers in five districts (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib). It is also encouraging the setting up of EV/Battery units in the new industrial park located over 380 acres in Dhanansu village of Ludhiana district.
OUTSTANDING MSMEs TO BE AWARDED TODAY
Outstanding MSMEs, who have registered a tremendous business growth for the financial years 2016-17 to 2018-19 and displayed excellence in product quality, would be conferred with Punjab State MSME Awards-2019.
These progressive industries, which have registered tremendous business growth in investment, employment generation, turnover or sales, energy efficiency, exports, employee’s welfare, among other things, will be honoured by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday with Rs one lakh cash award and a certificate during the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit-2019.
“The State Government will honour outstanding MSME entrepreneurs of different sectors like agro and food processing, automobiles and auto parts, textiles, engineering, pharmaceuticals, IT and electronics, sports, hand tools and leather industry to recognize their achievements and to encourage them to produce quality products for which the online applications were invited through press,” said the state Industry Minister Sham Sunder Arora.
Arora said that the Government hoped that these Awards would encourage and motivate other MSMEs for making investments and adopting innovative technologies for the production of quality products which in turn would help increase in revenue and employment generation which is need of the hour.
HINDUJA MEETS CAPT, OFFERS TRANSPORT, TECH SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS STUBBLE BURNING
The Hinduja Group on Wednesday offered to help Punjab in addressing the smouldering problem of stubble burning by lifting all the paddy straw from the fields for use in ethanol plants.
The offer came during a meeting between Hinduja Group chairman Prakash Hinduja with the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. During the meeting, Hinduja, who was leading a high-level delegation, also showed interest in partnering the State’s progress through investments in agri, transport, banking, healthcare and automobile sectors.
Hinduja, who was here to discuss investment opportunities as part of the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, offered transport and technology solutions to mitigate the menace of stubble burning and assured Capt Amarinder that the tippers of the Group could ensure timely lifting of stubble from fields to support the State Government’s efforts to eliminate the problem.
The Chief Minister asked his Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar to look into the Group’s proposal.
The Group could also make investments in the banking sector to facilitate loans for unemployed youth, self-help groups and progressive entrepreneurs to establish their ventures, said Hinduja.
Acceding to Capt Amarinder’s proposal, Hinduja also agreed to join hands with the State Government in its flagship programme ‘YAARI Enterprises’, under the Rozgar Mission, to provide easy loans to skilled drivers to run buses, for which permits would be allotted by the State Government.
Hinduja said that the Group was also interested in partnering with the State Government and Israeli companies to utilize superior technology for enhancing the quality of fruit produce to international standards, and exporting the same through Joint Ventures on profit sharing basis.
He also proposed a Public-Private Partnership with the State Government in setting up a manufacturing unit for Ashok Leyland Group and a driving school for skill development and employment generation in the state.
Assuring his government’s full support in setting up the Group’s new projects in the state, the Chief Minister proposed the establishment of an auto park in Kapurthala district, for which the modalities could be finalized in a short span of time.