CHANDIGARH: Bicycle maker Hero Cycles has shown interest in setting up a Rs 400 crore cycle project near Sahnewal in Punjab. The project will come up at the proposed 300-acre ‘cycle valley’ on the outskirts of Ludhiana.

Hero Cycles’ Chairman Pankaj Munjal, who met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday, shared a detailed report on the project, which includes technical and R&D centres and other critical industry facilities, according to a spokesperson in the Chief Minister’s Office.

Munjal added the project would require about 100 acres of land and would lead to doubling of the people involved in the cycle industry from the current 4.5 lakh. Singh said he was happy to welcome industry into the state for employment generation and economic development. He added the new industrial policy his government was working on would give an impetus to development by streamlining the processes for investing in the state. He also directed Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP) CEO Anirudh Tiwari to take the discussions forward with Hero. Munjal is the latest leading industrialists who has evinced interest in investing in Punjab, said the spokesman. Among the captains of industry who have personally conveyed their keenness to invest in Punjab are Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani and N Chandrasekaran. Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra and Godrej Group are also looking at expanding their business in Punjab in a big way, the spokesman said. The Chief Minister had earlier this month undertaken a three-day visit to Mumbai to meet leading industrialists as part of the state government’s Invest Punjab programme.–PTI