New Delhi, May 6
Keen on putting the state back on a fast-paced development mode, the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, has been holding series of meetings with captains of industry and NRIs keen to make investments in the core economic sectors.

Capt Amarinder Singh is scheduled to meet a select group of NRIs here tomorrow along with former Union Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who is at present Director of the Independent Evaluation office in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The anti-corruption crusade apart, Capt Amarinder Singh wants to put Punjab back on the development map not only in the country but also internationally,” highly placed sources said.

It is in this context that Capt Amarinder Singh’s intense discussions with the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Max India healthcare recently assume importance. He is also keen that infrastructure, agriculture, power, industry and information technology be given a fresh impetus.

The effort is to send a message to trade and industry that “there is now a sea change in the political mindset of Punjab” compared to the previous SAD government headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal.

A votary of the economic reforms process, Capt Amarinder Singh’s meeting on Tuesday with Mr Ahluwalia and business people who have made it big in the USA and elsewhere is to impress upon them that Punjab is a good destination for global investment.

Captains of industry within the country and abroad had expressed reservations on setting up industry or investing in Punjab for some years now due to a variety of reasons, including the slow pace of opening up the economy.

Capt Amarinder Singh will also take the opportunity of exchanging views with Mr Ahluwalia on ways of perking up the state’s economy and speeding up the reforms process with special emphasis on containing the fiscal deficit.

Aware of the agriculture scenario and the plight of farmers in Punjab, the Chief Minister is scheduled to take part in an interactive agricultural meeting in Bathinda on June 11.

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