Punjab

PUNJAB

General Profile

Punjab symbolizes the land of enterprise and endeavor. The state of Punjab blessed with fertile soils and rivers, has earned the distinction of being the “Granary of India” owing to its enterprising spirit and toil of its people. Punjab is a progressive state of India with an average growth rate of 10 per cent and has evolved into a land of boundless opportunities for investment, industry and employment.

Punjab is bordered by Pakistan in the West, Jammu and Kashmir in the North, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, Chandigarh to the southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest. The state of Punjab was the first to translate agricultural technology into the ” Green Revolution” recording the highest growth rate in food production.

Advantage Punjab

• All towns and villages are well connected by roads. All villages are
  electrified. A vast network of canals and tube wells irrigate 90% of the
  cultivated area.
• Punjab has 4.2 millions hectares of well-irrigated and fertile land in which cropping intensity is 182%. Having a geographical area of only 1.5%, Punjab produces 21% of the country’s wheat (13.7 million tons), 9% of rice (7.3 million tons) and 15% of cotton (1.9 million bales). It contributes 60 to 70% of wheat and 40 to 50% of rice to the central pool. Punjab State has earned a name “Food Basket of Country” & “Granary of India” has been containing 40- 50% of Rice & 50-70% of Wheat for the last two decades.
• The state has abundant labour resources coupled with cheap water and power supply.
• Highly skilled and professional work force with an abundance of skilled workers.
• Punjab has the highest per capita incomes in India.
• Conducive and harmonious industrial relations.
• Well-developed export base.
• Strong agricultural and a well developed small and medium scale industrial base.
• Well-developed financial services- banks, financial institutions and stock exchange.
• Peaceful and congenial environment.
• The state of Punjab cleared a record level of Private investment amounting to US$ 11.2718 billion in various industrial and housing projects, of which nearly US$ 1.95088 billion has been materialized. Punjab has been judged as the best-administered state in India over the last three years.
• Punjab has the best power situation in the country and the power tariff is one of the lowest in the country.
• The Government is committed to its initiatives in e-governance and has envisioned the creation of a common infrastructure for the implementation of e-governance projects

Major industries

Agriculture

Agriculture is the most important constituent of the primary sector including forestry, animal husbandry, mining and fishing. Looking at the history of the economic development of the most of the present developed nations or those, which have embarked on the development path, it is the development of the agriculture that has laid the foundation of the development of the other sectors of their economies.

Punjab is a little big state of India: little because the state occupies only 1.5 per cent of the geographical area of the country and big because around two-third of the food grains procured annually in the country come from this state. Further over 95 per cent of the food grains that are moved interstate to feed deficit areas through the public distribution systems are the stocks procured from this state.

Biotechnology

The Punjab Government has set up seventeen member Biotechnology Council, besides seeking to involve top experts to facilitate the quick transfer of biotechnology for the immediate benefit of the farm sector. The state government has already approved an integrated approach for the practical application of biotechnology in agriculture by bringing together the farmer and industry.

The state now proposes to set up an institute for excellence in biotechnology with the support of the Department of Biotechnology of the Union Government by coordinating research activities in various institutions, including Punjab Agricultural University, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab University and the Institute of Microbial Technology.

Textiles

The textile industry in India occupies a significant position in the economy, as it is one of the oldest industry to come into existence. The Textile industry also forms an important part of the Punjab economy as it adds about 19% to the total industrial production, and contributes nearly 38% of the total exports from Punjab thereby adding foreign exchange to the economy.

It is the only industry that is complete and self-reliant in value addition i.e from raw material to the highest value-added products-garments/made ups. Thus, the growth and development of textile industry has a significant bearing on the overall development of the Indian economy.

The textile industry employs near about 60% of the total industrial employment in the state of Punjab, becoming the single largest employment Provider. The textile industry requires specific human skills, even though it has a high level of mechanisation, the chances of machine replacing the humans is minimum. This industry helps in the upliftment of the lower sections of the society / semi-literates where the incident of unemployment is high. More importantly it employs more women than any other industry in Punjab. Any boost to the textile industry in Punjab will help in raising the employment levels in the state.

Information Technology

The information technology has gained a global recognition as an important medium of development in the new era. India has also recognized this need and embraced Information Technology (IT) as the principal engine of rapid growth. The Government of Punjab is committed to install IT as an effective tool for catalyzing accelerated efficient governance, human resource development and economic growth. In India’s resolve to become an IT superpower, Punjab ensures to become an equal and leading partner.

Government of Punjab has a clear vision to use the Information technology towards accelerated overall development of a knowledge rich society. The benefits of information technology are being viewed as of vital importance by the state because of two main reasons:

• Firstly, Information Technology will be used to reduce the cost of governance and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of the government machinery and to enable the government to dramatically re-engineer and improve its processes and service delivery systems for the benefit of common public.
• Secondly, Information Technology can dramatically help improve the economy of Punjab, generating more jobs and export revenues and thus enhance the overall quality of life of people.

IT and Internet have established a Global Digital Networked Economy. Government of Punjab has also fully recognized the fact that it needs to invest in education, Infrastructure and IT to be a leader in this economy.

The government of Punjab has identified three ways in which the State can increase employment and boost economic growth in Punjab by using IT:

• By increased organizational efficiency of the Government.
• By building a successful domestic Information Technology & knowledge based Industry and business.
• By producing globally competitive IT enabled human resources for self-employment as well as job employment within and outside the state and the Country.

Tourism

In Punjab, both domestic and international tourism provides huge opportunities of development to the state in short-term as well as on a long-term basis and generates sizeable revenue to meet the necessary requirements of state. Popularity of Punjab tourism can be witnessed by the fact that the internationally renowned Golden temple in Amritsar has been recommended to UNESCO by tourists for world heritage monument status.

In Punjab tourism is primarily religious and tourists from all over the world visit Punjab mainly on a religious trip. There are large numbers of Gurudwaras including three principal Takhts of Sikhs in Punjab. Moreover, there are many important Hindu Temples such as the Ram Tirath, Durgiana Mandir, Kali Devi Mandir at Patiala, which have a history behind them. Punjab also has certain important Muslim religious places like Rauza Sharif in Sirhind, which is considered, next to Mecca. Other important mosques are Jamma Masjid Jalandhar, Moorish Mosque Kapurthala, Chilla Baba Sheikh Farid Faridkot etc. Two major tourism destinations of Punjab are Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib.

The Government of Punjab has been taking several initiatives to promote investments in the tourism sector. These include:

• The state abounds with some of the best forts and palaces. The Government is encouraging the preservation, conservation and upkeep of such heritage properties and selectively open some of them for being developed into Hotels/Tourist Complex.
• The state encourages private investments in developing ancient buildings and heritage properties as tourist resorts.
• The properties owned by the state government may be offered on easy terms to private entrepreneurs for conversion into hotels on a case-to-case basis.
• Corporate sector is invited to join hands with the government in conservation of historical heritage and monuments in the state.
• The government is working towards improvement in infrastructure facilities at tourist attractions.
• Private sector is encouraged to set up hotels/restaurants/ lodging facilities at religious centres.

Investment Opportunities

• Agriculture
• Dairy and Poultry based units
• Meat Processing
• Leather Industry
• Sports goods
• Textiles Hosiery and Woolens
• Light Engineering goods
• Biotechnology
• Electronics and Telecommunications
• Information Technology
• Automobiles
• Engineering industries relating to agriculture and food processing
• Ancillary units
• Chemical Industries (Including drugs and Pharmaceuticals)
• Export Oriented Units