Mohali, January 19, 2018: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced the signing of a MoU for setting up a Startup in Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)’s incubation centre in Mohali, where the state government has proposed India’s biggest government-supported Startup Hub.
The MoU has been signed between Department of Industries, STPI, Indian School of Business (ISB) and Punjab Technology University (PTU). ISB and PTU will act as knowledge partners of the startup.
Addressing a conclave on ‘Mohali as next big IT hub in the North’ , organised by the Times of India group, the Chief Minister also announced a Rs 100 crore fund in collaboration with PTU for the Mohali Startup Hub, to be spread over an area of 45000 sqft.
The Startup Hub would be part of the State Government’s new Policy for Startup and Entrepreneurship.
The Chief Minister also launched the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion’s new Startup Portal for the facilitation of industry, which would connect all the stakeholders.
Interacting with the audience, the Chief Minister said he would soon be meeting the Air Chief for permission to use their air fields for small aircraft (20-seaters) to promote air connectivity in Punjab. He said he would also discuss installation of CAT III landing with the Army Chief and the Union Aviation Minister.
Listing the initiatives of his Government to boost the IT and ITES sectors, the Chief Minister said it had also been decided to set up an ‘international desk’ within the Punjab Startup Hub to facilitate the new investors and entrepreneurs from across the globe, who were keen to invest here.
Captain Amarinder further said that a special campaign had been launched to woo the Punjabi and Indian Diaspora for making huge investments in Punjab, especially in view of the positive business and trade environment created by his government through the investor-friendly new industrial policy, with its thrust on ease of doing business.
The government wanted to engage with the diaspora and make them partners in the development of Punjab, said Captain Amarinder, stressing the need to move beyond showmanship and get down to business.
Captain Amarinder thanked Times of India for partnering with the government in the development of Mohali as an IT hub, the idea of which came to him during his visit to Infosys in his earlier stint as CM in 2002. At that time he went to Hyderabad and Bangalore and went to the Infosys campus where he saw many young Punjabi students waiting for their interviews, which gave him the idea of tapping their potential for Punjab itself, he added.
United News Of India
