From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Oct 21: Terming his visit to ‘Dubai Expo 2020’ very fruitful, Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani on Thursday said several reputed industrialists have come forward to make investments in the State and expressed hope that this would create more jobs.

Addressing the media personnel at Vidhana Soudha here on Thursday, he said the State delegation succeeded in convincing several companies to invest in the state.

“I along with the delegation consisting of IT&BT Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Dr Aman Puri, Indian Consul General, Dubai, E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Department, Gunjan Krishna, Commissioner, Industries Department, Meena Nagaraj, Director, IT&BT Department and Dr N Shivashankara, CEO, KIADB met several industrialists and explained them about the thriving business ecosystem and investor-friendly atmosphere in our State and most of them have shown keen interest to invest,” Nirani said.

“LuLu group, Mubadala, KEF Holdings, Ducab, Electric Way, DP World, Aster Healthcare, Alshamsi Travelers, BLS International, United Park and Service, Export Bahrain, AIML, Taghleef Industries and other prominent companies have agreed to make investments in the State,’’ he said.

The minister said UAE-based Gulf Islamic Investment (GII) group has decided to open its office in Bengaluru and will invest Rs 3,500 crore in the next three years.

Reiterating Karnataka’s preeminent position in the industrial sector, the minister said Karnataka is the number one State in job creation.

“Investors have been expressing interest to invest in our state due to world class infrastructure facilities. We provide many facilities including water, power and land. We will conduct ‘Global Investors Meet’ in Bengaluru in November 2022 and we expect a huge flow of investments into our state and creation of jobs,” Nirani stated.

Huge Opportunities in Space Sector

Explaining the investment opportunities in the space sector, Nirani said the ‘Space Week’ at Dubai Expo from October 15 to 21 helped Karnataka to project itself as an ideal destination for investments in aerospace, defence and space sectors and the huge opportunities in the State.
ISRO and several start-ups in the space sector took part in the symposium at India Pavilion.

“Karnataka is a leader in space and defence sectors and emerged as India’s biggest space cluster. We are also the second biggest manufacturer of electrical machinery. We tried to attract more foreign investments in aerospace, defence, space, health, handloom, food processing and other sectors,” Nirani expressed.

Karnataka Now and Beyond

Karnataka succeeded in projecting itself as an ideal destination for investments to more than 200 prominent global industrialists including Gulf through its unique ‘Karnataka Now & Beyond’ programme.

The State provided necessary information to the industrialists about the ample opportunities available in the aerospace, defence and space sectors.

The delegation held a separate meeting with the start-ups and invited them to invest in the state. The delegation gave information on the government facilities, policies, reformative steps and the assistance provided to investors.

Indian Culture Captivates

“Indian culture captivated the visitors at India pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020 where 192 countries participated in one of the largest trade shows. Karnataka showcased its cultural heritage, industrial and technological advances in one week and the investment opportunities in the state,” said E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary (C&I)

Warning against the misuse of KIADB land, Nirani said such land should be used only for industrial purposes and added that the government will cancel the allotment of land and notices have already been issued to several people for misusing the KIADB land.

Expressing happiness over the successful conduct of entrepreneurship workshop in Bengaluru, Nirani promised to hold similar programmes in other cities.

“Recently conducted ‘Udyami Aagu, Udyoga Needu’ and ‘Kaigarika Adalat’ programmes were a grand success. College students, budding entrepreneurs who attended the workshop benefited from the experiences shared by successful entrepreneurs. We were able to solve the grievances of many industrialists on the spot during Kaigarika Adalat. We will hold this programme in Kalaburagi on November 11 and 12 and subsequently in five revenue divisions including Belagavi, Mysuru, Mangaluru and Tumakuru,” minister informed.