Investment in Punjab must create jobs: Rahul Bajaj

Top industrialist and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj group, on Wednesday indirectly advised the Parkash Singh Badal government that the landlocked border state needed investment that could generate enough employment.

Top industrialist and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj group, on Wednesday indirectly advised the Parkash Singh Badal government that the landlocked border state needed investment that could generate enough employment.

Chairman of Bajaj Group Rahul Bajaj addressing the audience during the Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in SAS Nagar on Wednesday. (Sanjeev Sharma/Ht Photo)

“Industrial development in Punjab is a must. But it must create employment. In case there is Rs 5,000 crore investment that creates employment for just 500 people, then it won’t be the ultimate solution for Punjab. You must have employment-generating investment,” Bajaj said in his address at the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit here.

Repeatedly applauding the SAD-BJP government for having taken a slew of pro-investment measures, he said, “I was amazed to hear what the deputy chief minister had to say. It is unbelievable what Punjab has achieved in the past few years and what the deputy CM plans to do and what he is offering to the investors.”

Referring to the tax concessions given to the industry to set up their units in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Bajaj said the step had an adverse impact on Punjab and that he personally was against such measures.

“Forget the north east and J&K,” he said. “Due to the incentives given to Himachal and Uttarakhand, Punjab had to suffer. Lots of industries which would have otherwise come to Punjab went to other states…good for them. But it appeared discriminatory to Punjab,” he said.

According to Bajaj, then finance minister P Chidambaram had told him that the Centre would discontinue the concessions in question to hill states. However, he said, after a fortnight the tax concessions were extended under political pressure.

Responding to a query, the chairman of Bajaj group said the competition among the states to attract investment is a good move. “It is true what Sukhbir said that during the licence raj we industrialists used to queue up outside the offices of the bureaucrats and politicians to get licence. There was lots of “ulta-pulta” as rivals used to try that the other person should not get the licence. There used to be a long line of businessmen outside government offices,” he said.