Punjab industries have new address

BARNALA: You may not have noticed, but big industrial houses in Punjab are shifting their base to Madhya Pradesh. The latest to join this race is Rs 1,500-crore Trident group.
Vardhman and Nahar groups have already set up their units in the vicinity of MP’s capital Bhopal. Investment to the tune of about Rs 4,000 crore is learnt to have shifted out of Punjab to Madhya Pradesh.All the three groups belong to Ludhiana, said to be Manchester of Punjab. Reasons for this shift are not far to seek. Land is cheap and easily available in MP, and labour is also very cheap.
Favourable industrial policies are another advantage. Besides, MP government is rolling out the red carpet and is learnt to be offering many sops to industrial houses. Trident, having its plant at Barnala, has purchased 700 acres of land at Budhni, at the feet of Narmada and 70 kilometres from Bhopal. The group plans to invest Rs 963 crore in textiles and agro tech. MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chohan laid the foundation of Trident mega project on Wednesday.
Prior to it, Nahar and Vardhman groups had entered Madhya Pradesh and set up their textile units. Both groups are learnt to have huge expansion plans. An official of Vardhman group confirmed the expansion plans, but he did not reveal details. Though Trident maintains that MP investment will not be made at the cost of Punjab, industry watchers say only time will clear the mist on this count.
‘‘The Madhya Pradesh investment will be apart from Punjab projects, already running or are in the pipeline,’’ says Trident Managing Director Rajinder Gupta.
Elaborating on the Madhya Pradesh project, Gupta said in the first phase, one lakh spindles would be set up and production would start in October 2008.
One lakh more spindles, agro tech projects and sugar mill would be established in the second phase. The group was committed to expanding in Punjab, too, he added. Trident had remained in Punjab even at the height of militancy, when most of the big industrial houses had shifted their base elsewhere.
Though Gupta denied it, sources said the acquisition controversy, in which the group had become embroiled, forced it to go to Madhya Pradesh. However, Barnala residents, especially traders, are not able to digest Trident investment in Madhya Pradesh.
For them, it is going to be a big loss as the town was seeing growth because of investment made by Trident, said Prem Chand, a small shopkeeper. Another shopkeeper, who was getting many orders from Trident, said Barnala’s loss would go on to be Budhni’s gain.