He will lead a high-level delegation including the state industries minister and senior bureaucrats.

CM Mann’s Japan Visit Begins: Punjab Targets Manufacturing, Mobility and Tech Investors

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has started his 10-day official visit to Japan from today. It is a bold move towards attracting foreign investment before the 6th Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, which is scheduled in Mohali from March 13 to 15, 2026.

He will lead a high-level delegation including the state industries minister and senior bureaucrats. He will meet captains of Japanese industry in Tokyo and Sapporo. The focus is on persuading top firms such as Panasonic, Toyota, NEC, Sumitomo, and others to invest in Punjab.

This visit is more than protocol; it follows a virtual engagement on November 26 in which CM Mann, along with state ministers, will hold detailed discussions with a delegation from the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (JCCII) and senior representatives of Japanese corporations operating in India.

Punjab’s pitch aims at strategic tie-ups in sectors which are seen as future engines of growth: advanced manufacturing, mobility, electronics, food processing, renewable energy and global services. Mann argues that Punjab has the human capital, resilience and entrepreneurial spirit to make the most of such partnerships.

Officials have highlighted that the visit comes against a backdrop of recent policy reforms focused on making Punjab more investment-friendly; a unified regulatory framework is being presented to Japanese investors as a major incentive, as verbally reported by officials quoted in multiple news reports.

This could be a defining moment for Punjab’s youth, job-seekers and entrepreneurs. If Japan’s interest translates into concrete commitments such as factories, technology centres, and export hubs, the outcomes could reshape the industrial and employment landscape in many districts. With many such investor-outreach exercises, actual delivery matters. The success of this trip will hinge not just on MoUs signed, but on follow-through, implementation and employment outcomes.

Mann’s Japan visit reflects a larger bet that Punjab can reinvent itself from an agrarian legacy to a modern, diversified, globally connected economy. What remains to be seen is whether the promise will translate into a tangible shift.