CHANDIGARH: NECTAR Lifesciences Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company will invest Rs.900 Crores in separate  textile projects in Punjab over the next three to five years.

In a meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal the Chairman of the Nectar Lifesciences, Sanjiv Goyal on Monday offered to invest in two textile units to be set up at Garhshankar in Hoshiarpur District and at Basauli near Lalru in Patiala district. 

The company has already identified about 250 acres of land at the two locations. The two units would be " composite textile units conforming to global standard for manufacturing cotton and blended yarns, both gray and dyed based high quality garments". These projects would be commissioned in two phases and the investment would be made over a period of three to five years.

The proposed composite textile mills shall have spinning, weaving and processing and woven garments divisions and the first phase would be completed with a capital of about Rs.450 crores. Phase two comprising spinning, knitting and processing and knitted garments divisions would also be commissioned with an outlay of Rs. 450 Crores.  The units would have the-state-of-the-art technology. Goyal told Badal that work on the first phase of the project would begin in July, 2007 and  be completed by year 2009.

It may be recalled that the regime of former Chief Minister, Capt.Amarinder Singh, had been marked by the flight of industry from Punjab to Himachal.  Even Nectar Lifesciences, (formerly known as Surya Medicare) had set up a unit at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, leaving Punjab out in the cold..

Goyal said that the present Punjab Government had created  conditions"which inspire confidence for investment in the State. Hence, the company had decided to invest Rs.900 crores in textile units to be set up by a new company-Nectar Lifestyles Limited, as composite units. He said that the first project of the company in pharmaceutical was also executed during  the earlier regime of Badal.

Goyal informed the C.M. that the 'new project stands appraised by the leading banks and the term loans stand tied up'. He said that being labour intensive industry, the two units shall provide employment to more than 5000 people and shall also  install 20 MW power co-generation plants. The units would be funded and supported under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme for textile Industries Scheme of the Union Ministry of Textiles. 

The proposed textiles units besides providing employment to 5000 people have a social dimension too. The Chairman of the   company,  Sanjiv Goyal confirmed to the Punjab Chief Minister,that as part of its social obligations, the company would adopt two government schools, both near the sites of the two proposed units.   The Company would finance and bear day-to-day running expenditure of these two schools.  It would earmark Rs. 10 lakh per annum for this venture. In addition the company has offered   to open a dispensary where it would appoint its own doctors and would dispense medicines at its own cost.  The company also agreed to adopt an Adarsh School at Garhshankar as suggested by the Chief Minister.