From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Feb 1: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is likely to skip the State’s mega three-day event, Invest Karnataka 2016 Global Investors Summit, scheduled to commence in Bengaluru on February 3, which is being inaugurated by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely.
Informed sources said the Congress heir apparent, who was billed to address the captains of Indian and foreign investors participating in the Siddaramaiah regime’s first Global Investors Summit, raising the hackles of State BJP leaders, has decided not to attend it.
Chief Minister Siddaramiah, who along with Large and Medium Industries Minister R V Deshpande and other top bureaucrats had an interactive session with senior media persons, said the State Government was confident of attracting more than double the investments received in last three years and create thousands of new jobs as well.
Over100 top global and Indian leaders would be on the dais including Union Ministers, Ambassadors and top most industrialists from India and abroad, the Chief Minister said.
As many as seven partner countries, including France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Japan and Republic of Korea, are coming with huge delegations.
“We have held numerous interactions with delegation from many other countries like United States of America, Central European Nations, Chinese, Taiwanese and Singapore. Everyone is very excited about investing in India and more so in Karnataka,’’ he said.
The Chief Minister said the State Government will be announcing mega investment projects on February 3 and 4.
“We are hoping to mobilize investments in the 116 investable projects already identified,’’ he said pointing out that roadshows have already been held across various countries and cities within India, which have generated unprecedented interest among all stakeholders.
The registrations for the event have been oversubscribed – every session will provide the opportunity to interact with the best global minds and leading industry captains.
“This event will go down in the history of Karnataka as one of the biggest and best investors’ meets held in the country,’’ he said pointing that industrialization is not new to Karnataka, which is the land of Bharat Ratna Sir M Visveswaraya and the Maharajas of Mysuru, who had a great vision for the State’s prosperity.
The seeds, which were sown more than 100 years ago, placed great emphasis on technological advancements, due to which we continue to reap the dividends even today.
In the 1940s and 1960s, several public sector undertakings came up in Karnataka – HAL, DRDO, ISRO, HMT, ITI, BEL, BEML and others, All of them recognized the forward thinking nature of our great forefathers. This led to Karnataka having the best skilled and talent pool in India. Industrialization in the 70’s and 80’s and liberalisation in the year 1991 led to many global brands coming to Karnataka to leverage on the talent pool.
The arrival of Information Technology – for which Karnataka is a global leader today, is a testimony to the rich legacy of the State, he said mentioning that successive Governments promoted industrial growth through industry-friendly policies.
“There is still a lot of potential which can be tapped to further enhance our growth. Our Government aspires to do this and much more. We would like to take advantage of our inherent strengths by providing the right eco-system for individual and industry to grow and prosper. We want to provide the right infrastructure and support eco-system,’’ Siddaramaiah said.
The State is investing in a big way in upgrading the State’s infrastructure to include Tier-1 and Tier-2 towns and backward regions, the Chief Minister said and claimed that Karnataka had attracted more than US $ 5.2 billion in Foreign Direct Investment during the last two financial years.
Karnataka is currently ranked as the aggregator for the Second Highest FDI in the country, he said pointing out that in 2013-14 and 2014-15 an investment of Rs 96,605 Crore was approved with employment potential for 2,27,552 persons. In 2015-16, as on December 2015, an investment of Rs 47,959 Crore has been committed creating employment opportunities to around 27,607 persons.
Launch of the Startup Policy for 2015-20 to create a World-class start-up eco-system, amendments to the Textile Policy to provide for better incentives and concessions to attract investment into textile parks and potential areas of the State, introduction of several measures on simplification of procedures by the Labour Department with the launch of online services for registration and renewal to abolish inspector raj, amendments to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act 1961 and special drive to encourage Public Private Partnership in infrastructure projects and also keeping in mind the Hyderabad Karnataka Region were among the several new aspects included in the New Industrial Policy, the Chief Minister explained.
“With a special focus on improving the livelihood of the farming community and in-order to support Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Food processing, our Government has announced Karnataka Agri-Business and Food processing Policy -2015. In a land mark decision, we transferred 13,000 acres of Government Lands to Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board for industrial purposes,’’ he said.