Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, used the Bharat Textile Expo in New Delhi to pitch Punjab as the country's top investment destination, inviting domestic and foreign industrialists to set up businesses in the state. Mann cited the state's number-one ranking in Ease of Doing Business nationally and highlighted flagship facilitation measures including the 'Hara Stamp Paper' (green stamp paper) scheme and uninterrupted power supply as key draws for industry.

Context

Posting on X after his address at the expo, Mann wrote that Punjab today stands first in the country on Ease of Doing Business, and that industries are being fully supported through facilities such as the 'green stamp paper' and seamless electricity. He claimed that investments worth Rs 2 lakh crore have generated 5 lakh new jobs in the state. He extended an open invitation: 'Punjab vich aao te kaarobaar karo, tuhanu khulla sadda hai' ('Come to Punjab and do business, you have an open invitation').

The Bharat Textile Expo is a national-level trade exhibition held in Delhi that brings together investors, manufacturers, and state governments seeking to attract capital into the textile and allied manufacturing sectors. Punjab, traditionally anchored in agriculture, has been actively pitching industrial diversification since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in March 2022.

Policy Backdrop

Since forming the government in 2022, the AAP administration in Punjab has pursued a series of business-environment reforms, including single-window clearance systems and online approval mechanisms aimed at reducing bureaucratic friction for investors. The 'green stamp paper' initiative is positioned as a simplified documentation measure for industrial land transactions, intended to cut processing time.

The state has also rolled out sector-specific incentive packages for textiles and information technology, competing for projects under national production-linked incentive frameworks. Mohali, adjacent to Chandigarh, has been promoted as an emerging IT and services hub, with Mann describing it as Punjab's answer to Silicon Valley.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary audience at the expo included textile entrepreneurs and industrialists from across India and abroad. For local stakeholders — particularly Punjab's youth — the government's investment pitch is directly linked to employment generation, with Mann asserting that new investments have already created 5 lakh jobs. The Chief Minister framed businesspersons not merely as investors but as 'important partners in Punjab's progress and members of our family.'

The textile sector is significant for Punjab, which hosts established garment and yarn manufacturing clusters in cities such as Ludhiana. Attracting fresh capital into this sector could deepen industrial employment and reduce the state's dependence on agricultural income.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the expo produces concrete follow-up commitments — signed memoranda of understanding, confirmed investment pledges, or project announcements — that translate Mann's pitch into measurable outcomes. Any state budget allocations for Mohali's IT infrastructure buildout will be a key indicator of how seriously the government intends to back its Silicon Valley ambition with public spending. The broader inter-state competition for textile and electronics investment means Punjab will need to demonstrate on-ground delivery to retain its stated Ease of Doing Business edge.