Punjab in the North-West of India, is a state abundant in agricultural wealth and industry. The state is also rich with culture, ancient civilization, spirituality and epic history. Punjab is also famous for its' rich and delectable cuisine, which especially favours vegetarians. Pork and beef is rarely sold here.

The State of Punjab is located in North-West of India at 35° Latitude and 74° Longitude, blessed with plain and fertile soil receiving an average annual rainfall of 503 mm.

Temperatures range between 5°C in winter to 38°C in summer.

Punjab is divided into 17 districts. All towns and villages are electrified and well- connected. Of the 4.2 million hectares of fertile land, almost 90% is irrigated by a vast network of tube-wells and canals. The state also produces 22% of the country's wheat, 9% of rice and 6% of cotton.

Farmers enjoy cheap credit, mostly from co-operative banks and these co-operatives are taking rapid strides to serve people in different spheres like agriculture, industry, housing, spinning, weaving, dairying and sugar production.

Agricultural produce like sugarcane, cotton, oil-seeds, spices, fruits and vegetables, dairy, poultry and livestock are all available in plenty for processing in agro-based industries.

On the industrial front, Punjab averages a healthy 8% annual growth. With a high level of literacy, the people of the State enjoy the highest per capita income in India.

The people of Punjab invite you to share their prosperity. The Punjabi people are warm, hospitable, pulsating with energy and progressive. Although Punjabi is the official language, Hindi and English are widely spoken by one and all.

Steeped in history and secularism, there is a hero in every village and town. It is these virtues that have made Punjab the largest surplus State in foodgrains and producer of high tech items.

The people represent tremendous marketing opportunities for manufacturers of consumer and non-consumer goods. There is a potential not only for engineering, electronics, consumer goods, light and heavy machinery industry but various other categories as well.

Punjab is the wellspring of Indian culture. Traditional literature the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Vedas, all take us back to Punjab. Archaeolgiststs find the earliest evidence of recognisably Indian civilisation in the excavation of Punjab's Harappan sites. The uninterrupted continuity of Indian culture flows forth from ancient Punjab.

Artifacts dating back to the Pleistocene Age have been found in the valley of Kangra, Pehalgam, and Hoshiarpur. These finds testify to the cultural unity extending to the whole of the region. The Harappa-Ropar and Sanghol civilisations were the outcome of the culture that developed over a vast area. The Harappan civilisation perhaps was overwhelmed by the village folk, who, although did not belong to a different culture, represented a different pattern of life.

There is no conclusive evidence to prove that the authors of the Rig Veda came to the land of seven rivers from any outside country. The whole complex of Rigvedic hymns shows them settled in this region from the outset and considering it their sacred land and original home.

Sage Priyamedha Sindhukshit in the famous ‘Hymn of Rivers" (Nadi-stuti) after invoking the favour of rivers soars to a high pitch of exultation in his reference to the Sindhu. He clearly states that his ancestors were the inhabitants of the land through which the river flowed from ages immemorial,

The Vedic and the later Epic periods of the Punjab were socially and culturally the most prolific. The Rig Veda was composed here.

During the period quite a number of centres learning and culture were established. Panini and Vishnu Gupta were associated with this.religion , Philosophy, grammer, law, astrology, medicine and warfare were taught . Yasak’s Nirkuta and Panini’s Ashtadhyayi are those classic creations of which help us to understand the language and culture of the ancient Punjab.

The field of action of the Ramayana is believed to be outside the Punjab but the tradition maintains that Valmiki composed the Ramayana near the present Amritsar city and Kaikeyee belonged to this region.

The advent of Buddhism saw Punjab become, more than ever, a cultural crossroad. A few years before the birth of Buddha (556 BC), the armies of Darius I, king of Persia, had swept across Punjab and made the area a protectorate of Persian empire. This was a fruitful interaction that ripened into the cultured and sophisticated cities of Gandhara (present day northern Pakistan-southern Afghanistan). To the Buddhists Punjab was Uttar Path – the way to the North, to the valleys of Afghanistan, and further on to Central Asia and China. In 327 BC Alexander invaded Punjab, defeating Raja Paurava (Porus). The centuries that followed brought more incursions from the north but the Indian response was vigorous. This happened during the rules of the Mauryas, the Sungas, the Guptas and the Pushpabhuti.