BSA Hercules, Apollo Hospitals to expand operations in Punjab

Officials from the country's second biggest bicycle manufacturer BSA Hercules and Apollo hospitals on Thursday announced their decision to expand operations in Punjab after meeting Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was in Chennai on the first day of his investment promotion visit.

The Murugappa Group, which owns the BSA brand, has committed to establishing a bicycle manufacturing plant in Rajpura while Apollo hospitals will establish a state-of-the-art hospital at Amritsar.

On Thursday, L Ramkumar, managing director of Tube Investments of India Ltd, a Murugappa Group company, told Badal that the group had a tube manufacturing facility in Mohali and now wanted to put up a world class bicycle and tube manufacturing plant at Rajpura. Ramkumar said the company had already earmarked an investment of Rs 200 crore for the project.

He also told the Deputy CM that it was looking for a land parcel of 60-70 acres for the project.

"Our experience in Punjab, which has a congenial working atmosphere with zero labour issues has been very good. We now want to take advantage of the concessions being offered by the state to take our investment to the next level," said Ramkumar.

Sukhbir Badal also visited the Apollo hospital here and was the guest of honour at the 31st anniversary celebrations of the hospital chain.

At the occassion, Apollo hospitals Chairman Prathap C Reddy said the hospital chain would establish a state-of-the-art hospital in Amritsar that will not only cater to Punjab but also non-resident Indians (NRIs) and international patients.

Reddy said a team from Apollo hospitals would visit Punjab to ensure speedy establishment of the project. Reddy also disclosed that the hospital chain was keen to develop the skill sets of the medical fraternity, following which the deputy chief minister said Punjab was ready to give clearance to the hospital group to establish its own university for this purpose.