Japanese Ambassador meets Capt Amarinder Singh, discusses investment opportunities in Punjab

Chandigarh, December 6, 2019: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged the Japanese Ambassador to India, Satoshi Suzuki, to impress upon companies in his country to set up ventures in the upcoming Mega Industrial Parks at Rajpura and Bathinda.
The Japanese envoy called on Captain Amarinder Singh after attending the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit-2019 at ISB Mohali on Day 1.
The Chief Minister pointed out that Rajpura, being located in the vicinity of the world-class Mohali City, offers the basic infrastructure in terms of road and air connectivity, with prestigious educational institutes. He also mentioned that the Rajpura Thermal plant would cater to the power requirements of companies intending to set up their units in the Industrial Park.
Suzuki appreciated the congenial investment atmosphere in the state and assured the Chief Minister that several Japan based companies in various sectors would be looking at making investments in Punjab. He also extended an invite to Captain Amarinder Singh to visit Japan for exploring investment opportunities for Punjab.
The visiting envoy also requested Captain Amarinder to depute a dedicated officer to liaison with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) for setting up of Industries, besides forging technical alliances and collaborations with Japanese companies.
Additional Chief Secretary Industries and Investment Promotion, Vini Mahajan apprised the Japanese Ambassador that several renowned Japanese companies like Aiche, Isuzu, Yanmar and Kansai had already collaborated with Punjab Vardhman Group, Swaraj Mazda Limited, Sonalika and Nerolac paints respectively. Japan’s strong base in the state and the conducive atmosphere provided by the state government would act as a catalyst to bring in huge investments from Japan, she said. She also requested Suzuki to visit the state-of-the-art STPI Incubation Centre at Mohali, and to be a partner in this prestigious institute.
CM’s Media Advisor Raveen Thukral, Advisor Invest Punjab Major B S Kohli, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Special Principal Secretary to CM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and additional CEO invest Punjab Avneet Kaur were also present at the meeting.

DELEGATES AT PPIS-2019 CALL FOR MORE INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FROM PUNJAB TO MAKE IT A MEDICAL TOURISM HUB
SAS Nagar (Mohali), December 6, 2019: The second day of the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit – 2019 on Friday saw delegates call for more international flights from the state to harness its massive potential to emerge as a Medical Tourism hub.
With its state-of-the-art infrastructure, skilled manpower and government support to set up new multi-speciality hospitals, coupled with its vibrant Hospitality sector, Punjab was an ideal state to emerge as a hub of medical tourism, pointed out the delegates at the session on ‘Developing Punjab into a hub of International and Domestic Medical Tourism’.
The only thing the Punjab Government needs to do is to press upon the Union Government to bring more direct international flights in the State from CIS Nations, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and to cater to NRI populations in USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, in order to attract NRI patients, the delegates stressed.
At the onset, Arurag Aggarwal, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, gave a detailed presentation highlighting the availability of world-class medical healthcare infrastructure, skilled manpower and the roadmap of the Punjab Government for futuristic endeavours in the health sector. The State of Punjab has 6 Medical Colleges, 13 Dental Colleges and a sizeable number of nursing colleges, he pointed out, adding that all the major healthcare players had their hospitals in the state, such as Fortis, Ivy, Max, Apollo, Medcard, Swift Hospital, Grecian, Global, Capitol, CMC, DMC.
The Principal Secretary noted that the 100-bedded Homi Baba Cancer hospital established in Sangrur in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, had treated 7000 patients in just two years and registered 12,000 patients in five years. The Hospitality sector is also experiencing a boost across the major cities of the state, he said, adding that the government was also in serious discussions with other big groups for new establishments and expansion projects.
A New Medicity for medical eco-system over a projected area of 350 acres would be coming up by next year adjoining Chandigarh, he said, adding that prominent healthcare players were setting up their healthcare establishments in it.
Padma Bhushan Awardee Dr. KK Talwar said that Punjab was already witnessing Medical Tourism from Central Asian nations, US, UK-based NRIs and from adjoining states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This, he said, was due to the strong presence of a healthcare delivery ecosystem, with over 2173 multi-specialty and super-specialty hospitals equipped with advanced treatment facilities for eye-surgery, cardiology, IVF, hip & knee replacement, dental surgery, gall bladder removal etc. This ecosystem is complemented by a strong presence of academia spanning the ecosystem, from medical colleges to nursing colleges, pharmacy colleges & research institutions, thus providing the necessary human capital, he added.
Apart from Dr. KK Talwar, other panelist who took part in the discussion included Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi MD & CEO Fortis Healthcare, Dr. Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director Apollo Hospitals, Cdr. Jelson Kavalakkat, CEO Aster Medcity Kochi , Dr. Kanwaldeep Kaur, Medical Director Ivy Hospitals, and Director Service Export Promotion Council , Ms. Sangeeta Godbole, IRS.
Senior doctors from big hospitals of Mumbai, Kerala, New Delhi, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali and Ludhiana attended the session.

AGRO INDUSTRY BATS FOR VALUE ADDITION TO FARMERS’ PRODUCE TO ENSURE REMUNERATIVE RETURNS
SAS NAGAR (MOHALI), DECEMBER 6, 2019: Leading players in the Agro Industry on Friday batted for providing value addition to the agricultural produce of farmers in order to ensure remunerative returns for them.
The consensus on the issue emerged during the session, ‘Agri & Food Processing Session-Punjab: Value Addition to Agri Economy’ session’ on the second day of the Progressive Punjab Investor Summit-2019.
The delegates also underscored the need to lay special focus on the processing of fruits, vegetables, animals and meats, besides developing logistics & cold chains. They stressed the need to process the agro wastes to avoid environmental degradation, and thereby achieve the goal of sustainable agriculture.
On the occasion, an MoU was signed between Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and California State University, Fresno for undertaking research collaboration and student exchange in the field of agriculture and food processing.
Earlier, addressing a galaxy of agriculture experts academicians, researchers, agro-industrialists and progressive farmers, Additional Chief Secretary, Development, Viswajeet Khanna underlined the need to motivate farmers to adopt smart farming technologies, micro irrigation and use of the recycled/processed/treated waste water for irrigation purposes.
Outlining the strengths of the state’s Agriculture sector, Khanna said that Punjab was the 6th largest milk producer in India, with 32.5 million litres daily production. It ranked second in Mandarin orange (kinnow) accounting for 24% of the country’s total production, as well as 3rdin Honey accounting for 15 percent of total production and 21% of total honey exports from India.
Khanna further pointed out Punjab had an extensive network of Infrastructure, production, storage and marketing, with dedicated Research Centres like PAU, Fruit Research Station Bahadurgarh, Patiala, and Jallowal Hoshiarpur. He invited the private players to explore the tremendous opportunities offered by the state to develop agro industry, and to forge collaborations with PAU for research.
The technical session was moderated by Chairman Punjab State Farmers’ Commission Ajay Vir Jakhar. The panelists included CEO Godrej Tyson Foods Prashant Vatkar, MD CN IFFCO Inigo Anton, Head of Finance, Food Division, ITC Neel Kingston and Agriculture Scientist Prabhakar Rao.
Jakhar strongly advocated improvement in the Indo-Pak relations, which would ultimately benefit the Punjabi farmers and facilitate export of their agricultural produce like fruit, vegetables and dairy products to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kazakhistan etc. This move would be instrumental in opening new vistas of export potential for agri-products from Punjab in Central Asia, thereby transforming the destiny of the state’ farmers.
Taking part in the deliberations, Neel Kingston said that since Punjab alone was contributing 7 percent of the country’s milk share and 6 percent of egg production, it should be developed as the ‘protein source of the country’. He hailed the initiative of Punjab Government for facilitating the ITC group in setting up its state-of-the-art Agro food unit at Kapurthala. Transformation in traditional agriculture was the need of the day and, in line with this mission, ITC was extensively working to improve the quality of seeds and vegetables to enable the farmers to reap the maximum benefit from their yield, he said.
Sharing his experience, MD CN IFFCO Ingio Anton appreciated the support and cooperation extended to them by the Punjab Government in setting up their venture at Ludhiana. He underlined the need to build a strong partnership based on long-term relationship between the farmers and Agro industry, for mutual benefit.
CEO Godrej Tyson Foods Prashant Vatkar emphasised the need to bring awareness amongst the consumers about the products they buy from the market for realisation of their value of money. Showing concern over the lack of value addition in the agriculture sector, Vatkar said that the private players in the Agro sector should come forward to transform the conventional agriculture into value-added.
Eminent agri-scientist Prabhakar Rao focused on the issue of climate change and underlined the need to move towards chemical-free agriculture to accelerate the pace of value addition in the farming sector.
CEO Sukhjit Starch & chemicals Ltd Bhavdeep Sardana lauded Invest Punjab for organising the summit, which would go a long way in further strengthening the positive eco-system in the state. He said the best agriculture practices and innovative farmers had enabled Punjab to herald a new revolution in agro and food processing sector.

PUNJAB EMBRACES INDUSTRY 4.0 TO UNLEASH NEW WAVE OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
SAS Nagar (Mohali), December 6, 2019: With Industry 4.0 unleashing a new industrial revolution, focused on technological investments, Punjab has opened a new wave of opportunities for industry in the state.
Setting the tone for `Industry 4.0’ session of the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit (PPIS) 2019, centered on theme of ‘Punjab: Changing Gears for Industry 4.0’, Principal Secretary, Science, Technology and Environment, Punjab, R. K. Verma said the state government was
facilitating the investment and growth of technology, under the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017, to keep pace with the revolution.
The panelists in the session included Raj Kiran, India Head IoT/AI Business, PTC; Chandan Chowdhury, Senior Associate Dean, ISB Mohali; Anup Wadhwa, Director, Automation Industry Association; and Pankaj Goyal, VP- Eco Struxure & Digital, Schneider Electric. The panelists shared their ideas and spoke about the technologies that could be used by the industry for the growth of production /quality enhancement etc.
Focusing on the MSMEs, the panelists appreciated that the growth of economy in the State of Punjab was contributed by about 2 Lakh MSMEs and approximately 500 Large and Medium Units. The presence of strong Textile, Food Processing and Light Engineering sectors makes the industrial scenario a vibrant platform, they said.
The Industry 4.0 concept focuses on the modernization of manufacturing process through integration of advanced technologies and physical production elements. It creates a fully digital value chain by the simultaneous use of communication, IT, data, physical elements etc.
Harish Chawan, CEO, Swaraj Tractor, shared his experience and appreciated the efforts made by the Punjab Government in promoting the latest technology for the growth of industry, particularly MSMEs, as well as the initiatives taken by the Government for promoting Ease of Doing Business.
Sushant Rabra, Partner, KPMG conducted the session effectively with active participation of about 80 prominent persons, including MSMEs, IIT, Ropar, Thapar University, Chitkara University and other experts in the field of Industry. Karunesh Garg, Member Secretary, Punjab Pollution Control Board, proposed a Vote of Thanks to the panellists.
Among other dignitaries present on the occasion were Vini Mahajan, ACS, Industries and Commerce; Rajat Agarwal, CEO, Investment Promotion; Vaneet Kumar, AMD; and Vishav Bandhu, Deputy Director, Industries and Commerce.