The work on setting up of a scrap-based steel plant by Tata Steel kicked off on Tuesday in Ludhiana, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said.
"This is just the beginning as we deliver what we say and the day is not far when we will make Punjab a frontrunner state in the industrial growth across the country," said the chief minister during a meeting with the representatives of the Tata group in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Mann had gone to Mumbai on Sunday to meet industry leaders to seek investments in his state.
The chief minister, while congratulating the Tata Group for starting work on this ambitious project, assured fulsome support and cooperation to them in this project.
According to a Punjab government statement, Mann said that this project is first ever investment made by this globally acclaimed company in the state and second biggest in the country after Jamshedpur.
Mann expressed hope that investment by this major industrial group will further put the state on a high growth trajectory of industrial development, besides opening new vistas of employment for the youth.
He said that the Tata Group is investing around Rs 2,600 crore in the first phase of the project coming up at Ludhiana, adjacent to Hi-Tech Valley Industrial Park of the government of Punjab.
The chief minister said that this electric arc furnace based plant will produce 0.75 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) finished steel and the raw material for the steel making process is 100 per cent scrap.
Meanwhile, Mann on Tuesday also visited the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and showcased the state as the most preferred investment destination across the country.
He said that entrepreneurs will be immensely benefited by investing in the state, which he said is rapidly emerging as the industrial hub of the country.
According to the state government statement, the chief minister urged the industrialists to make optimum use of this congenial atmosphere backed by excellent infrastructure, power, skilled human resources and best industrial and work culture to spread their business.
