Davos: Karnataka inks deals worth Rs 22K crore at World Economic Forum meet

Bengaluru: Karnataka has inked agreements for potential investments worth Rs 22,000 crore at the World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos, the government said on Wednesday.

The biggest deal is with Mumbai-based Web Werks that wants to set up a data centre park worth Rs 20,000 crore in Bengaluru. Construction of the data centre, which has the potential to create 1,000 jobs, will commence in 2025, according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU).

“This is a giant leap in our infrastructure journey. Welcome aboard, Web Werks!” CM Siddaramaiah said.

Industries Minister MB Patil, who is leading the Karnataka delegation at Davos, said the government will work closely with Web Werks and provide all the necessary support in grounding the investment quickly.

Patil also said that the Lulu Group is set to venture into food processing at Vijayapura with plans to invest Rs 300 crore in a plant dedicated to exports.

While Microsoft signed an MoU on skilling and governance initiatives, Hitachi will work with the government on economic development, rural development, healthcare and education.

The Karnataka delegation also held talks with Volvo, Nestle, Sony, Inox, HP, Honeywell, Takeda Pharma, Coinbase, BL Agro, Tillman Global among others.

“Additionally, four other companies have entered into MoUs collectively valued at over Rs 2,000 crore with the Karnataka government,” Patil said. 

The state delegation held talks with Volvo, Nestle, Sony, Inox, HP, Honeywell, Takeda Pharma, Coinbase, BL Agro and Tillman Global, among others. 

Soni AI CEO Hiroaki Kitano expressed “keen interest” in collaborating with the Gaming Center of Excellence planned by the government. “Furthermore, there are plans to establish a GPU cluster, leveraging the expertise of premier institutions like IISc and IIT,” Patil said. 

“Coinbase expressed interest in collaborating with the government to train individuals in Web3.0,” Patil said.  The minister said BL Agro aims to install sorting, grading, and processing plants in North Karnataka with Vijayapura identified as a strategic location possessing essential infrastructure.

Inox has already filed an application for setting up industrial gas manufacturing facility worth Rs 150 crore to supply to electronics manufacturers in the region of North Bengaluru, Patil said. 

Nestle plans to expand production to 22,000 tonnes, collaborating with 5,000 farmers and operating a demo farm for coffee plantation training, Patil said. “Anticipating the operationalisation of a biomass plant in the first-half of 2025, Nestle aims to make Karnataka a hub for sourcing clean energy with the government’s backing,” he added.