ITC to invest Rs 700-1400 crore in Punjab

ITC, the FMCG major in the country has announced an investment of Rs 700-1400 crore in the food park coming up in Punjab.

The company is increasing its investment in the Food Park at Kapurthala, ITC FMCG Businesses President Sanjiv Puri informed Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal during an interaction with PTI.

Badal met with the corporate honchos to hard-sell the state as a favoured destination for investment, an official release said.

He told industrialists that the state was coming out with a policy offering cheapest power in the country to new investors and government was in the process of banning Inspectors from entering factory premises, it said.

Puri said that ITC had succeeded in making Kinnow juice and the product was under consumer testing and would be in the market within the current financial year.

Godrej Agrovet Managing Director Balram Yadav said that his company would evaluate setting up a green house and food park over 100 acres.

Badal said the government was ready to create the entire infrastructure for the green house at Ladhowal. "Companies and farmers taking up area in the green house would have to pay operating costs only", he said.

Molson Coors president Ravi Kaza announced that his company was upgrading a plant by investing Rs 50 crore.

Representatives of Marks and Spencer, Cannon, Walmart, Dabur and Shaktibhog Atta also held one-to-one meetings with Badal.

Dabur representative Sunil Duggal expressed interest in processing kinnows, while Walmart representatives said there was scope of opening a dozen more Walmart stores in Punjab as the company's stores in Punjab had the best sales, the release said.