CII's vendor development programme at Amritsar to commence today

Major companies like Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kapurthala-based Rail Coach Factory, New Holland Fiat, Eastman Cast & Forge Ltd and Hoshiarpur-based International Tractors Ltd will participate in the Vendor Development Programme which would be one of the key features of ‘Destination Punjab’, a Mega Expo being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from October 7-10 at Amritsar.

The companies will interact and identify MSMEs of Punjab to procure various products from them. The initiative is likely to boost the MSMEs of Punjab.

Rail Coach Factory (RCF) procures products worth around Rs 1,600 crores, of which around Rs 500 crores are from Punjab. "We can increase this by around 20-30 per cent, especially in the case of forgings," stated an official of RCF.

According to an official of Tata Motors, their experience with Vendors from Punjab has been good and they already have 5 Vendors from the State. "Around 8-10 per cent of our total purchases is presently being procured from Punjab Vendors. There is good scope of increasing this in the current year," he said.

An official of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was equally optimistic. "Our largest number of Vendors are from Punjab and we are very keen to promote Punjab industry further," said an official of M&M.Through Destination Punjab, we hope to increase this further," he added.

"The state of Punjab has a huge potential for growth, but needs to be properly branded. The need of the hour is aggressive planning," stated Kamna Raj Aggarwala, chairperson, CII Punjab State. Destination Punjab can be considered a proactive step towards branding Punjab and to fetch more investments into the state.

"Especially for MSME’s, which forms the backbone of the state, it is a great platform for showcasing their strength and benefiting from visiting delegations and corporate clientele," she added.

Also, defence sector like Airforce and Army will deliberate SMEs about their Defence Procurment manual and which are the potential areas where the SMEs can explore potential.

Industrialists are of the view that Destination Punjab, a first-of-its-kind Expo will benefit the key sectors like Farm Equipments, implements and machinery; Textile and textile machinery; engineering goods; auto and machine tools, leather and sports goods and tourist and hospitality. Apart from aiming to provide momentum to the industrial success of Punjab, the event also highlights the extensive B2G interactive and participative session and knowledge events.