Punjab investors' summit to focus on strengthening the MSME sector

Leading corporate honchos of the country, including Sunil Mittal, Uday Kotak, Sanjiv Puri, will attend the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, starting today.

The event, which is being organised by the Punjab government, will see participation from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), leading industrialists, new-age entrepreneurs, foreign missions and other dignitaries.

An interactive session with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will be the highlight of the investors' summit, with a focus on putting the state's MSME sector on the centre stage of the global value chain, the state government said in an official release. .

The chief minister's session on 'Blueprint for accelerating growth' will have East India Hotels Executive Chairman P R S Oberoi, Kotak Mahindra Bank Executive Vice Chairman & MD Uday Kotak, ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri, Hinduja Group Europe Chairman Prakash Hinduja, Hero Enterprise Chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, and Vardhman Textiles Vice Chairman & Joint Managing Director Suchita Jain as participants.

Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to India, will deliver his keynote address and will also set the tone of the two panel discussions, the release said.

The second panel discussion of the afternoon session will see participation of Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, HDFC MD Aditya Puri, DLF Vice Chairman Rajeev Singh, Sharaf Group Vice Chairman Sharafuddin Sharaf and Bharat Hotels (Lalit Hotels) CMD Jyotsna Suri.

The investor summit is set to build strong business partnerships for the state across sectors, with thrust on MSMEs.

It will be a platform for global leaders, industrialists and experts to come together to share their narratives on emerging markets and discuss ways to address the shifting industry requirements in this age of disruptions, said Vini Mahajan, Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab.

The panel for MSME session will include representatives from the World Bank and UNIDO, and will set the context of the summit's theme.

The highlight of the session will be an MoU exchange with e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Amazon.

The UK Country session will see a discussion on 'Punjab & UK: Opportunities for Innovation and Technology'.

British Deputy High Commissioner to India Andrew Ayre will make a presentation during the session, the release said.