The Karnataka government is looking to attract twice the Rs 1.30 lakh crore investment it has wooed in the last two years at the upcoming global investors meet which will begin tomorrow. Chief minister, Siddaramaiah said with a thriving eco-system for investment the state’s expectations were “realistic”. Several mega investment projects would be announced at the meet. The government hopes to mobilize investments in 116 investible projects identified already.
Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley would inaugurate the event, which will also see the presence of several union ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman, Suresh Prabhu and Nitin Gadkari.
The chief minister also said that the government is expecting to attract double the investment received so far. Also the state would reach the targets set in the new 2014-19 industrial policy, one year ahead of the timeframe. The new policy envisages 12 per cent industrial growth, Rs 5 lakh crore investment and generation of 15 lakh jobs.
On the common refrain by the corporate sector regarding non-availability of land, he said that the state cabinet had recently decided to hand over 13,000 acres to Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board. Land is not a problem as Karnataka has already created a land bank of 26,268 acres, additional chief secretary (industries and commerce) Rathna Prabha said.
Over 100 top global and Indian leaders, including marquee investors, would take part in the meet, besides CEOs of domestic and global corporations, he said. Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anil D Ambani, Gautam Adani, among others, are participating in summit.
Fourteen sectors, including textile and defence, have been identified for the meet, for which seven partner nations – France, Germany, UK, Italy, Sweden, Japan and South Korea – are arriving with huge delegations, state’s minister for large and medium industries, R V Deshpande said.
