Industrialisation fastest route to economic growth: Maryam

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday offered technical assistance to the federal government for digitising business processes, as a special committee led by Prime Minister’s Adviser on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan met her to discuss reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business.

The meeting, also attended by Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Commerce Ehsan Afzal Khan, reviewed measures to promote investment, facilitate businesses and accelerate industrial growth. The federal reform committee praised the Punjab government’s initiatives to attract investment and improve the business environment.

Haroon Akhtar said Punjab had already implemented several measures recommended by the committee to facilitate businesses and promote industry. He appreciated the efforts of the CM and her team, saying their work was reflected in the province’s development projects.

The CM said that industrialisation was the fastest route to economic growth and stressed the need to promote local industries to generate employment. She said the provincial government was also revamping skills development programmes under a unified framework, with sector-specific training yielding positive results.

She said Punjab was expanding its tax base and improving revenue collection without imposing new taxes. She added that the government was working to facilitate businesses while taking ground realities into account.

She said the province had completed cluster mapping and planned to develop hubs for cottage industries. The government was also promoting livestock farming to increase meat exports and encouraging young people to start businesses through the Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme, she said.

Officials informed the meeting that the scheme had provided Rs70 billion in interest-free loans, supporting 112,000 businesses.

The briefing also highlighted progress under the province’s eBiz platform, which provides 437 services through 28 departments under a single-window system. More than 210,000 applications were being processed through the platform, officials said.

Under the Maryam Ki Dastak initiative, 4.5 million digital services had been delivered to citizens, while lengthy documentation requirements for various services had been reduced to a few essential documents.

The chief minister expressed confidence in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s commitment to promoting investment and in the efforts of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to improve the investment climate.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026