No subsidy, but new policy to offer ease of doing business: Kejriwal to industry

The new Industrial Policy of Punjab will lay emphasis on the ease of doing business, but won’t be offering any fiscal incentives to any sector of the industry.

The policy is to be unveiled by the end of this year.

This was made clear by the National Convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal while interacting with industrialists during the launch of the 24 industrial sector committees, formed by the AAP government to help it prepare the new industrial policy. He made it clear that subsidising industrial investment was not a sustainable way of development.

With the Madhya Pradesh Government, led by its CM Dr Mohan Yadav, having wooed industrialists from Ludhiana last month, and wrapped up his meetings after bagging industrial investment offers worth Rs 15,600 crore, industrialists wanting to go for both brown field and green field expansions have been looking to see what incentives the Punjab Government would offer in its industrial policy. Madhya Pradesh offers capital investment subsidy, interest subsidy and deferment on paying sales tax.

Addressing the committee members, along with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal advised the committee members nominated to frame the policy: “Though decisions made by you in your particular sector will be implemented, don’t fill the industrial policy with subsidies. The government has no money, but we will provide you with ease of doing business and a good eco system to work. Sometimes people have come to me, asking for subsidies while giving reference of what other states are offering, like subsidy on capital investment by Madhya Pradesh. When one state faced financial crisis and stopped giving subsidy, the industrial units shifted out to another state. It won’t be sustainable industrial development if you were to make profits only from subsidy. For a viable business model, you will have to make industry competitive and bring innovation in business.”

He further said that the AAP’s vision was to establish Punjab as a hub of industry and commerce. “In three years, Punjab is already at the top in the country in providing Ease of Doing Business and has launched a Fast Track Punjab portal, offering 150 business services. With deemed approvals for new projects coming in just 45 days of applications being received, you will have the best experience in Punjab to start new projects,” he said. He added that the era prior to 2022 was dominated by extortion, where industrialists were coerced by political leaders to give up stakes in their businesses.

CM Bhagwant Mann said these committees would be responsible for drafting detailed strategies tailored to each industrial domain. He said there were immense opportunities for growth in Punjab. “Since March 2022, when our government took over, Punjab has received investment proposals worth Rs 1.14 lakh crore, leading to the creation of over 4.50 lakh job opportunities,” he added.

Punjab