The overwhelming response by the industry leaders; Showed great interest to invest in Punjab during Chandigarh University-Industry Meet with Chief Minister
“Punjab is offering the best ecosystem which includes Single Window Clearance System, Cheapest Power, Skilled Talent, and Infrastructure to welcome the industry in the state, which will result in the generation of more job opportunities for our youth,” said Capt. Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, Punjab. The Chief Minister was addressing the group of industry leaders during the Chandigarh University-Industry Meet (Virtual Meet). The theme of the Virtual Meet was ‘Revival of Economy in the post-COVID-19 scenario.’ Industry leaders showed great interest in investing in Punjab and take leverage of the Ease of Doing Business and Industry-friendly environment of the state during the Chandigarh University-Industry Meet 2020. Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh assured the Industry to work in the direction of meeting the expectations of the corporate world and look into the resolutions of the problems if any.
Referring to some of the measures adopted by the Government of Punjab to bring the economy back on track, Capt. Amarinder Singh said, “The government has already appointed a high-level committee under economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia to develop a medium- to long-term recovery strategy for the state from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.” Chief Minister patiently listened to the ideas and suggestions given by the corporate leaders representing the industry from different sectors.
Business leaders who was joined by Chief Minister during the Virtual Meet on Revival of Economy in the post-COVID-19 scenario included Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank; Rahul Sharma, President, Amazon Web-services, India & South Asia; Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon; Shantanu Jha, CHRO, Cognizant Technologies; Arpinder Singh, Partner & Head, Ernst & Young; Rajeev Talwar, MD DLF Developers; Sanjeev Mehta, Chairman & MD, Hindustan Unilever; Rajeev Dubey, Principal Advisor, Mahindra & Mahindra; Ira Gupta, Head HR, Microsoft India; Anand Deshpande, Founder, Chairman & MD, Persistent Systems; Rekhi Singh, Founder CEO, R Systems International; Sameer Wadhwa, Senior Vice-President & Head HR, Samsung Electronics; Ashok Ramchandran, President & CEO, Schindler India; CP Gurnani, CEO & MD, Tech-Mahindra; Pavan Vaish, Head Central Operations, South Asia, Uber Technologies; and Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEO, Volvo-Eicher Vehicles Ltd.
“It is remarkable that due to concussive and business-friendly environment of Punjab, the top industry has shown interest in coming to the state of Punjab and Chandigarh University will act as a bridge between Government and Industry to felicitate the establishment of a new industry in the state,” said Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University. “The University has the best of talent, world-class infrastructure, research & incubation facilities which we have offered to the Industry and we will surely make Punjab the next Knowledge and Industry hub of the region,” added Sandhu.
“With big corporate houses setting-up their units in Mohali, the city is emerging as the next education & technology hub of the region and this will largely benefit the youth of Punjab as new job opportunities will be generated for them,” said Chief Minister. Capt. Amarinder Singh further added, “Government is working to invite corporate to Punjab and has started Invest Punjab program 3 years back in 2017 and today the success of the Invest Punjab program can be checked on the ground with more Rs. 65,000 crores worth of investment has already been done in the state with top-notch companies setting-up their units.” The Chief Minister added, “Government is pushing industrial growth in the state with 3100 acres of 4 Industrial Parks coming up in Punjab at Bathinda, Sangrur, Rajpura, Hoshiarpur which will work as integrated manufacturing clusters in different domains.”
Capt. Amarinder Singh said, “There was a time when India faced food shortage but our farmers stood up to the challenge and within 4 years, through green revolution Punjab richly contributed in making our country self-sufficient in food grains. Now it is the turn to bring technology revolution and once again Punjab will become the front-runner in this.” On the front of agriculture, CM Punjab said, “Punjab is doing great in the terms of crop-diversification as we have shifted from Paddy to Basmati which has the great export opportunity. In addition, we have increased the area under Cotton Production by 105 lakh acres this year and we are trying to move Punjab out to Paddy and Wheat belt.”
While talking on the healthcare sector, Capt Amarinder Singh said, “To improve the accessibility of quality medical education and healthcare in the state, three medical colleges will be functional at Mohali, Sangrur and Pathankot by the end of this year. In addition PGI Satellite center has started functioning at Bathinda while the other satellite center is coming-up in Firozpur.”
Industry Leaders pitched for improving Digital Accessibility, Skill Training in Emerging Areas
• Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank gave advice to improve the digital accessibility of banking system in the rural areas especially amongst the farmers so that the cash subsidies announced by the governments can directly reach to them. He announced that Airtel Payment Banks will be increasing the number of access points from 5000 to 50,000 in next one year and this will add more job opportunities to the youth of the state.
• Rahul Sharma, President, Amazon Web-services, India & South Asia propagated the idea to establish digital marketplace for the farmers where they can directly sell their produce online. He further advocated for increasing the accessibility of markets to MSME units of Punjab as they are the major backbone of the economy of the state. He also advised the state to use technologies like Machine Learning & Data Science to plug the revenue leakages in the state.
• Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon said that Punjab has the unique opportunity to become the state having the best healthcare network in the country. This will also lead to the generation of a large number of medical and research-based jobs. Punjab already has a medical ecosystem with institutes like NIPER, IMTECH, PGI Chandigarh, and with the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis there is an opportunity for the state to become role model in establishing Digital Healthcare System.
• Shantanu Jha, CHRO, Cognizant Technologies stressed on establishing Industry-Academia partnership to impart skill-based training in the emerging areas of Data Analytics, Data Science and Machine Learning to the youth of Punjab so that their job prospects can be enhanced.
• Rajeev Talwar, MD DLF Developers gave the advice to work on establishing low-cost rental housing model in the state and work towards increasing the urbanization of the state which can help in retaining the labor class in the state and prevent their migration which we have seen during the lockdown.
• Sanjeev Mehta, Chairman & MD, Hindustan Unilever offered to start “Women Empowerment Program-Shakti” in Punjab which will generate employment for women of the state. He also advocated digitizing the fair price shops in the state which will help the government in plugging the loopholes in the system thus ensuring the subsided food reaching the right section of people.
• Ira Gupta, Head HR, Microsoft India encouraged to offer digital training and improving the skills of the faculty and students. She advised that the curriculum of the universities and institutions should be upgraded to include the learning of skills in the new technologies. Ira also propagated to enhance employment opportunities for specially abled persons so that they can remain motivated and contribute towards society building.
• Anand Deshpande, Founder Chairman & MD, Persistent Systems advised the government to establish Centre for Artificial Intelligence which can help in providing urban facilities to the persons in an efficient manner. He also advocated the government to take steps to stop the migration of industry from Punjab.
• Rekhi Singh, Founder & CEO, R Systems International advocated to set-up IT Innovation hubs in Punjab as IT & ITES happens to a major employer of youth. He also offered to join hands with Punjab Government to improve the mental health of the youth so as to prevent them from taking Drugs.
• Sameer Wadhawan, Senior Vice-President & Head HR, Samsung Electronics advised the government to set-up a single-window system for the MSME sector and also to attract investment in the agro-farm industry as Punjab is one of the largest producers of food grains in India.
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