Value Added Tax (VAT) assesses in Punjab will be now rated by the excise and taxation department and will be given priority services, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said. A government spokesman said on Saturday that under a new policy, it has been decided to give preferential refund to compliant VAT assesses.

"VAT assesses would be star rated into A, B and C categories. A category assesses would get refund and other services on priority," Badal told a gathering of industrialists and businessmen in Ludhiana.

Badal said the Punjab government will announce an Industrial Promotion Policy in the beginning of 2013 with the aim of attracting investment of Rs. 100,000 crore in the next four years.

He said hotels, real estate and health sectors would soon be given industrial status to facilitate investment.