Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, where he announced $17.5 billion (Rs 1.5 lakh crore) investment to India’s AI first future. Calling the invest ‘largest ever in Asia’, Nadela said the contribution will help the company to build infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities in the country.
“To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$17.5B—our largest investment ever in Asia—to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future,” Nadella wrote in an X post.
It is the kind of moment that forces every state to look at itself honestly. Do we have the vision? Do we have the urgency? Do we even realise how fast the world is moving? For Punjab, this is not just another news headline. It is a test we have failed before, and one we cannot afford to fail again.
For years, opportunities have flowed elsewhere Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon and now Noida while Punjab watched from the sidelines, convincing itself that maybe next time our turn would come. But turns don’t come by themselves. They are created. And this time, we must create ours.
Microsoft’s investment will be spread across AI infrastrucutre, cloud capacity, data centres, R&D, and training hubs. Every major state will scramble for a slice. The competition will be sharp, even ruthless. But Punjab has one strength many still overlook: a quality of life that global tech leadership actually values. Clean air (at least compared to the NCR), safer neighbourhoods, good schools, a calmer pace of living these things matter far more than people admit.
That is why Mohali deserves to be Punjab’s frontline pitch. It is not a theoretical idea; it is already a city with order, liveability, and a young tech ecosystem. It sits next to Chandigarh, the airport, and top institutions like IIT Ropar, IISER, and NIPER. It offers what CEOs and senior executives look for beyond tax breaks—comfort, predictability, and a place where talent can build a life, not just a career.
Of course, all is not perfect. International flights still remain limited. Punjab’s landlocked geography has long held back manufacturing: something I saw clearly in 1995 as a young officer in PSIDC (Manager, Investment Promotion) when investors hesitated, and Himachal’s incentives pulled everything to Baddi. Geography hasn’t changed, but the economy has, the industry has. IT does not need sea ports; it needs fibre, skills, and a goverment that moves when opportunity knocks.
To its credit, the current Punjab government has shown willingness to look outward. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s recent visit to Japan and South Korea signals that Punjab now understands the importance of courting global investment. That momentum must not fade. It must be directed, right now, toward securing a piece of Microsoft’s India commitment.
Punjab needs to act with a clear plan. A “Punjab AI & Cloud Strategy” with plug-and-play land, green power assurances, and real single-window clearances—not the kind that exist only on paper—must be announced quickly. A Mohali Tech Valley, spread over 1,000 acres near the airport, should be pre-approved and marketed with confidence. And the Chief Minister himself should lead the pitch to Microsoft; these opportunities respond to leadership, not files moving through departments.
Punjab is standing at a moment that does not come often, and certainly not with this kind of clarity. If we act now—with intention, urgency, and a sense of what the future demands Mohali can finally secure the breakthrough it has long been capable of and we can catch the IT Bus, once we lost to Hyderabad and Banglore.
A share of Microsoft’s investment could shift our economic direction in a way that manufacturing incentives never could. But if we slip back into old habits—slow decisions, scattered priorities, or letting files gather dust then we will once again watch other states convert opportunity into long-term advantage while we explain, yet again, why things didn’t work out for us.
Punjab has lived through enough of those missed chances. We should not add another to that list. The opening is right in front of us real, substantial, and perfectly suited to our strengths.
This time, Punjab must move and move fast.