'Punjab attracted Rs 44K cr investment proposals in 5 years'

Notwithstanding the economic slowdown, Punjab attracted industrial investment proposals worth more than Rs 44,000 crore in various verticals including IT, electronics and textiles, in the past 5 years, according to a PHD Chamber paper released today.
The over Rs 44,000 crore investment proposals figure was highlighted in the paper 'Progressive Punjab: Opportunities Unlimited' prepared by the industry chamber.
"Investment proposals submitted to Punjab, mainly comprised sectors such as leather and sports goods, meat processing, textiles, electronics and telecommunications, IT, infrastructure modernisation, automobiles, farm machinery, engineering industries, chemical industries and export oriented units," said PHD Chamber President Sharad Jaipuria.
A few investment proposals were for industries like processing of fruits and vegetables, crop and agro industrial residue (wheat/paddy straw, paddy husk), poultry and animal husbandry, dairy and milk processing.

On the issue of industrialisation of the state in 2011-12, the paper said that there were 1,70,000 small scale industrial units with an investment of Rs 9,000 crore. This generated employment for about 10 lakh people with a turnover (production value) of Rs 60,000 crore.
During the year 2012-13, it is estimated that this number increased to 1,72,000, with a fixed investment of Rs 9,400 crore and employment level touching around 11 lakh with a production value of Rs 64,000 crore.

The unemployment rate of Punjab stood at 1.8 per cent, which is significantly lower compared to the national average of 3.8 per cent, it said.

The number of job seekers (both educated and uneducated) on the live registers of employment exchanges during 2010-2011 was 3.62 lakh. Out of this, 2.53 lakh were educated, the paper said.
Out of the educated job seekers, 1.95 lakh were non-technical whereas 0.58 lakh had technical qualifications.
"The state has made serious efforts to enhance the employability of the youth by imparting job specific vocational skills," the PHD Chamber paper said.