Punjab must be relieved of its duty to grow foodgrains, Manpreet Singh Badal said.

Punjab no longer wants to be the "bread-basket of India" and is desperately looking to attracting investment and business to catch up with rest of the country, the State's Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal indicated on Thursday.

Having completed "one phase" in its efforts to contribute to the development of India, Punjab sees that there are a few blank pages in that "beautiful picture" (the State), he said at the 8th "Invest North" summit, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Mr Badal noted that for the last 70 years, Punjab has been developed as a bread-basket of India or granary of India, from the time the country was not sufficient in foodgrains and was dependent on foreign food aid.

"Even though Punjab comprises only 1.53 per cent of India''s landmass, even today, we are contributing 32 per cent of all foodgrains... cereal production in India," he said.

"In the last 70 years in the process of providing food security for India, we have actually poisoned our soils (by use of fertilisers) and we have depleted our water acquifers... and we sincerely feel in Punjab that green revolution in India must move east", Mr Badal said.

".. real food bowl of India is not Punjab, it''s not Haryana; the real food bowl of India is going to be Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Odisha.. this is where green revolution must go to," the Minister said.

Punjab must be relieved of its duty to grow foodgrains, he said adding, the State can diversify into agriculture.

India's food policy, Mr Badal said, is rooted in the 1960s where cereal production was preeminent but though the country sits on mountains of foodgrains, yet an average Indian is malnourished.

"I think food policy should be converted to a nutrition policy where an average Indian must have access to milk, fruits and vegetables, and Punjab can actually be the State which is supplying quality milk, fruits and vegetables".

In the last 70 years, in the process of growing foodgrains, Punjab never mounted a serious public relations exercise to attract investment because food security was important for the country, the Minister said.

"But we realised now that we have to mount a serious public relations exercise: so, Punjab is open to business after 70 years", he said.

"Since there is a sense of urgency, sense of desperation... because we have to catch up with rest of India. That's why we are in Bengaluru today (for the investment summit)", Mr Badal added.