Addressing a gathering of industry captains as part of the road-show in the City for the Global Investors’ Meet, the Minister said Karnataka has been one of the few states to develop a land bank for industrial purposes by notifying 50,000 acres for acquisition and identifying another 50,000 acres.
The two-day meet is scheduled to begin in Bangalore from June 3.
Karnataka has already proved its leadership in information technology and biotechnology and has an edge in aviation and aerospace industries to earn the sobriquet ‘The Knowledge Hub of Asia’.
The State has been making huge investments in infrastructure, including five industrial corridors and a clutch of power projects that will radically alter its industrial profile.
“We need to add value to our minerals and take to food processing in a big way,” Nirani
said in a high-profile campaign for the GIM.
The government expects to attract another Rs four lakh crore investments during the GIM, the minister added.
Infrastructure projects
Listing some of the major infrastructure projects in the pipeline, including upgrading Mangalore and two other ports in Karnataka, constructing airports in all tier-II cities and power projects, the State Commissioner and Director of Industries, Rajkumar Khatri, said the State did not lag behind in skilled manpower either.
Over 89 ‘Fortune 500’ companies besides 700 plus MNCs have already set shop in Karnataka and the recent investments pouring in were very encouraging, he said.
Khatri said the final notification to acquire land for the Rs 30,000-cr six million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant of ArcelorMittal in Bellary district has been issued and the Company on Monday deposited Rs 208 crore to the government.
The sum is in addition to Rs 60 crore already paid initially for the land.
Cement plant
Besides Lafarge establishing a three MTPA cement plant with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore Khatri said Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) was taking up a huge Rs 7,000 crore gas pipeline project from Dabhol (in Maharashtra) to Bangalore.
Though Karnataka has been 15 per cent deficient in power now, with a slew of new power project initiatives, the “situation will drastically improve in six months,” Khatri added.
Arun Kumar, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industries, Karnataka gave an overview and a few Tamil Nadu industrialists shared their experience of investing in Karnataka.
-Investments in five industrial corridors.
- Govt has created a land bank for industrial purposes by notifying 50,000 acres for acquisition and has identified another 50,000 acres.
- Port in Mangalore and two other ports in the State to be upgraded.
- Airports to be constructed in all tier-II cities.