Assocham’s growth strategy for Punjab

The strategy paper on all-round Punjab development is a ready-reckoner for investors,the Centre and state governments to make it as one of the most attractive investment destinations in India with double digit SGDP growth,said Mr. Wig. The chamber has also set up a dedicated Foundation for Development of Micro Industries and clusterisation to promote micro,small and medium enterprises.

They said Punjab should rejuvenate agriculture,create manufacturing hubs and accelerate growth in services sector to emerge as land of opportunities. The agenda of new state government should be to prioritise building social and physical infrastructure and define role of all stakeholders and cover short-term and long-term goals to ensure speedy development.

The state may not have enough finances to develop infrastructure on its own which builds a good case for public private partnership (PPP) type of initiatives involving multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. “The challenge before state government is to address the issue from a holistic perspective keeping in balance between agriculture and industry,” said Rawat.

“We would also like the state government to promote irrigation,rural connectivity,health,education and non-farm rural activities. With rich natural resources and traditional industries,however,the state holds enormous unrealised growth potential,” said Khanna.

At the same time,industries clusters can be created for micro,small and medium enterprises to ensure common facilities,thus reducing operating costs and increasing competitiveness and skill development around that sector.