The global economic meltdown could prove to be a blessing in disguise for Punjabi investors desirous of immigrating to Canada. This was stated by Sylvain Payette, president of Renaissance Capital, a Canadian company that deals in immigrant investor programmes of Canada and Quebec, who was in Bathinda today in connection with the opening of a branch office by World Wide Immigration and Consultancy Services (WWICS).

Talking to The Indian Express, he said he has been in India for about a week to study the market and predicted that approximately 1,000 Indians would apply under Immigrant Investor Programme this year and "75 per cent of them will be from Punjab alone".

Apart from a couple of other parameters, a minimum net worth of 8,00,000 Canadian dollars is required to apply for the programme. Last year, there were only 400 applications from India.

"The programme has been driven by China over

the years, which sent about 2,000 investors to Canada last year. But, market trends suggest that India will be a major force now," Payette claimed.

"The recession has not affected Punjab as much as it has affected Canada," he said, adding that the realty prices in Canada had come down drastically and people from Punjab stand a good chance to own property in Canada.

"The Canadian population is ageing and the population growth is zero. A large number of people are retiring as well, which means opportunities will only increase," he added.