As Varun Beverages completes its one year of operation, it’s time to look back on how the Invest Punjab team clocks impressive response time, that too with just a few clicks.

It was on 2nd April 2018 that Varun Beverages applied for setting up its unit in Pathankot on the Invest Punjab website. The plant was inaugurated on March 8 th , 2019. The plant has emerged as the national supplier for Tropicana and many other dairy products that are supplied as far as Chennai and Goa from the Pathankot District in Punjab in just one year. Could that be a case of well begun is half done?!?

This state-of-the-art beverage unit was envisaged to be set up with an investment of approx. INR 800 cr. So what could have been still marked as a work-in-progress project in other states; Punjab made it operational in just 10 months. How the Invest Punjab team’s promptness and professional approach resulted in Varun Beverages entering the production phase in just 300 days is a case study in itself!

Varun Beverages was conceived as Asia’s first plant producing soft drinks, dairy products, fruit juices, and fruit /pulp bases drinks under one roof. The sincere and prompt actions taken by the Invest Punjab team to promote and facilitate investment get reflected in the fact that this project received Forest NOC in just two days on 3rd April, 2018 followed by Consent to Establish on 6th April, 2018. Simplified administrative procedures, improved regulatory transparency and a dedicated team for investment promotion have resulted in improving the investment environment in Punjab. Needless to say that this case study is a success story of strong political will and leadership, both from the highest levels of government as well as from front-line agency, Invest Punjab which is responsible for implementing the Investment policy. The very fact that Invest Punjab considers business first and says that upfront in their branding was vouched for when the project got Change of Land Use NOC on 12th April 2018.

Construction Permits were granted in the month of May and included Temporary Power Connection to Certificate of registration (Contract Labour), Boiler Permission and followed by Building Plan which was approved on 22nd May, 2018. Well, exactly 40 days it took and the construction permit stage was successfully over for Varun Beverages. While applying to Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion during April 2018, Varun Beverages had shared its vision to make the unit operational within 12 months. Looks like Invest Punjab is keen to make the investors its brand ambassadors as the satisfied investor is very likely to be vocal about his experience and, so, encourage other potential investors in the process. Elaborating on the same, Mr. Rajat Agarwal, CEO, Invest Punjab talks about how Invest Punjab is committed to create more such experiential promotions, “Invest Punjab is one-of-its-kind; it acts not just as an Investment Promotion Agency but also as a Unified Investment Regulator. This is a dual responsibility meant to give multiple times benefit and swiftness to the industrialists and investors. Varun Beverages was just the beginning; we have been helping many such investors and trying to improvise on our response time every time.”

Mr. Ravi Kant Jaipuria, Chairman, Varun Beverages described this experience as truly encouraging, “Ease of doing business and single-window clearance system for all the regulatory approvals is one of the best services offered by PBIP. PBIP understands evaluates and provides an investor-friendly response in a corporate style which eventually helps investors in charting out the future course for growth and success.”

No wonder, buoyed by a positive business environment, the company has decided to quadruple the initial proposed investment.

 This case study is a reflection of Punjab’s industrial renaissance. The Advantage Punjab story that includes skilled manpower, robust infrastructure, industry-driven ease of doing business initiatives and friendly policies, is topped with a professionally driven Invest Punjab team that offers the prospective investors full support during their investment lifecycle. Quoting Mr. Agarwal’s vision “The relationship does not end with investment; it is just a beginning. We are here during every phase of the investor’s journey”