PUNJAB CM ASSURES HINDUJA OF NO MONOPOLY OR 'GOONDAGARDI' IN CABLE BUSINESS

Mumbai, November 2, 2017: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has assured the Hindujas that his government would not allow any monopoly or 'goondgardi' in the cable business in the state, but will provide level playing field to all players.

The assurance came at a high-level meeting steered by Captain Amarinder Singh with the top management of the Hinduja Group, led by its chairman Ashok P Hinduja, here on Wednesday evening.

The Chief Minister made it clear that his government would not, at any cost, allow anyone to browbeat cable operators opting for NXT Digital – the HITS (Headend-in-The-Sky) digital services platform launched by the Hindujas two years ago.

HITS is a satellite-based digital cable distribution platform, in which pay TV signals are beamed to cable operators using satellite transponders. The operator then transmits the TV signals to households through cable as part of this technology, in contrast to the direct-to-home.

Captain Amarinder, for whom this was the second meeting with Hinduja since taking over as Chief Minister, assured him that Punjab would not allow its cable business to be monopolized, as had been done during the rule of the erstwhile SAD-BJP government. All players in the field would be treated equally, and provided the same facilities, infrastructural support and incentives to invest and grow in the state, he promised.

The Chief Minister, who was in Mumbai for the past two days to woo industry and business, and to participate in CII’s Invest North summit, urged the Hindujas to explore investment in Punjab in various areas, including electric vehicles. The Congress government, he said, was keen to go in for clean and green transportation, of which electric vehicles was an important aspect.

Hinduja assured of all possible help on this through the Ashok Leyland company, owned by his Group. He appreciated Captain Amarinder’s efforts to promote industry in the state, saying Punjab had never marketed itself in such a way earlier and the industry felt encouraged to come to the state now to make the most of its transformed environment.

The Chief Minister was accompanied at the meeting by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, besides CEO-cum-Invest Punjab & Secretary Industries, Commerce & IT Rakesh Kumar Verma.

Besides Ashok Hinduja, the Group’s delegation consisted of AK Das, Vice Chairman of Hinduja Group; Shom Hinduja, President, Alternative Energy & Sustainability, Hinduja Group; Ashok Mansukhani, CEO_Hinduja Ventures Ltd, and Raman Gopal, President-Business Development-Hinduja Group.