Chandigarh, August 4:Welcoming the JK Group on its maiden foray into the State with a plannedinvestment of Rs.150 crore, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh onWednesday handed over a letter allotting 17 acres of land at a cost of aroundRs. 40 crore in the Hi-Tech Valley at Ludhiana.
The Group plans toset up a corrugated packaging paper manufacturing unit in the Cycle Valley.
This is the secondbig group entering Punjab with sizeable investment plans within a fortnight.Recently, Aditya Birla Group had purchased land and finalised two projects withan investment of Rs. 1500 crore in the state.
The Chief Ministerassured the JK Group of his government’s total support in the venture, andexpressed the hope for more investments in the future. He further
assured the group ofcomplete cooperated from his government in setting up their unit and alsoduring commercial operations of the project.
Punjab, due to itspro-investor industrial policy and lucrative incentives, has now emerged as themost preferred investment destination in the country, the Chief Minister said.‘Invest Punjab’, as a one-stop shop, has seamlessly facilitated investmentsworth Rs.91,000 crore in over 2900 project proposals received by the state inthe past four years, he said, adding that of these nearly 50% had alreadystarted commercial production. He expressed the satisfaction over the Statesuccessfully attracting and retaining significant investments even during theCovid-19 pandemic.
The Group’s unit willinitially procure raw material, which is waste paper, from different parts ofthe country and supply finished goods, which is corrugated packaging paper, toindustries in Punjab and other neighbouring states. It will also provide afillip to the waste paper industry ecosystem in the State, helping Punjabachieve its sustainability goals. The presence of this unit in the State willhelp the local industries in sourcing their packaging material from within theState which will enhance their cost competitiveness. Further, the majority ofthe production will be consumed in the State, which will help boost the State’sGST revenue.
CEO Invest Punjab,Rajat Aggarwal, elaborated on the State’s investment promotion agency ‘INVESTPUNJAB’, which has been recently rated as the ‘Top Performing Agency’ by theGovernment of India. He further said that the Hi-Tech valley at Ludhianaprovides a high quality ‘Plug and Play’ infrastructure to potential investorsand, therefore, has attracted investments from prominent industry players, suchas Hero Cycles, Aditya Birla Group, and JK Paper Ltd. Hero Cycles Limited hasalready set up their anchor unit in the Valley with a production capacity of 4million bicycles per year, especially e-bikes and premium bikes. JK PaperLimited is also looking forward to start construction of its proposed plant atthe earliest and commence commercial production within one year, addedAggarwal.
Expressing gratitudeto the Chief Minister, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of JK Paper Ltd.Harsh Pati Singhania lauded Punjab’s industrial ecosystem, forward-lookingindustrial policies and conducive business environment, which motivated theirdecision to invest in the State.
Chaitanya HariSinghania, son of Harsh Pati Singhania and head of the Dairy and Foods Businessof JK Organisation, also accompanied the delegation at the meeting. Looking atthe prospects for the welfare of the farming community in the State, the ChiefMinister invited Chaitanya to explore investment opportunities in Dairy andFoods Sector in the State.
The event wasattended by senior officers, including Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, PrincipalSecretary to CM Mr. Tejveer Singh, Principal Secretary Investment Promotion Hussan Lal, Advisor InvestmentPromotion Maj BS Kohli and Managing Director Punjab Small Industries &Export Corporation Neelima, among others.