Tata team on recce visit

Tata team on recce visit
23 Sep 2008, 0416 hrs IST,TNN

BANGALORE: Giving out yet another positive signal that they may zero in on Karnataka for the Nano project in case they decide to relocate from Singur in West Bengal, a Tata Motors delegation visited two locations near Dharwad, proposed by the industries department.
In the wake of an assurance by the state government that it was ready to offer the company 1,000 acres for the small car project , the Tata Motors team led by managing director G Ravi Kanth visited Gamanagatti and Tarihal last week. It is 7-8 km from Telco in Dharwad city, where the company has another plant.
"The state government is confident that Tatas will choose Dharwad as their destination to set up Nano plant in case they decide to relocate from Singur. As a good sign towards that, our officials along with the delegation have done a field visit last week,'' large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani told reporters here on Monday.
Stating that everything was moving in a positive direction, the minister said he has sought an appointment with Tata group chairman Ratan Tata. The Tata Motors delegation met chief minister B S Yeddyurappa last week and sent clear signals to the West Bengal government that they are not averse to pulling out from Singur if the land transfer row is not resolved.
After the assurance that they would get 1,000 acres in Dharwad, Tatas had told the government that they will respond in a fortnight.
Karnataka has already allotted nearly 900 acres of land in Dharwad for Tata Motors where luxury buses, their components, light commercial vehicles and vans will be manufactured.

Rs. 2 lakh-crore investment expected in two years: Nirani

Rs. 2 lakh-crore investment expected in two years: Nirani

Special Correspondent

‘100 concrete proposals gathered from investors during recent foreign tour’

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Government seeks ‘early appointment’ with Ratan Tata

Tata Motors officials visited two sites near Dharwad

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Bangalore: Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani has said that the State is likely to get over Rs. 2 lakh-crore investment in the next two years.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, the Minister said nearly 100 “concrete proposals had been gathered from investors” during his recent business tour of the U.K. and the U.S.

Mr. Nirani said the Government had sought an “early appointment” with Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, “to take forward the negotiations on relocating the Nano project to Dharwad.

Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce), V. Umesh, said Tata Motors officials visited two sites near Dharwad which could be offered by the State Government for the Nano project.

He said that while one plot was about 800 acres, the other was 1,000 acres.

He pointed out that the Government already had 500 acres in its possession, which could be made available for the Nano project immediately.

Consultants

Mr. Nirani said the Karnataka Government had hired the Infrastructural Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. (IL & FS) as consultants and adviser for conducting the Global Investors’ Meet in Bangalore on January 16 and 17, 2009.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) are partnering the Government to host the summit.

Mr. Nirani said Karnataka had “built up a substantial land bank” which was available for industrial use. “Farmers are not averse to selling their land, if the price is right,” he said.

The Minister said the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) had been entrusted with the task of building the land bank. The KIADB’s legal cell would help in the hastening of the acquisition process, he added.

Mr. Umesh said the Government had already notified about 30,000 acres for acquisition across the State. “Of this, about 5,000 to 6,000 acres is already with the Government.”

He said farmers would be paid compensation at the market rate, and wherever possible, jobs in units that would be set up on land they had parted with.

“Alternatively, farmers are free to organise themselves into cooperatives in order to negotiate a better price for their land,” he added.

Dry land, especially that which could support only a single crop during the year, could be used for industrial purposes without any serious repercussions, he said.

K'taka to introduce rural IT policy

K'taka to introduce rural IT policy

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore September 23, 2008, 0:51 IST

In first such initiative by any state government in the country, the government of Karnataka is in the preparatory phase of bringing out a ‘Rural IT policy’ to attract IT investment to the tier-II and tier-III cities in the state.While the basic framework of the proposed policy has already been laid, the government is involving the IT industry in seeking their suggestions and guidance in finalising the incentives to be given to IT companies in the proposed policy.

“We are in the process of coming up with a rural IT policy to specify the incentives for the industry to go to the tier-II and tier-III cities. The policy will come as a boost for the company in setting up operations in eight cities in the state, which have been identified by Nasscom as emerging IT destinations in the country,” Karnataka IT secretary Ashok Kumar Manoli said.

He said the state is ensuring to involve the IT industry in devising the policy, and the first phase of discussion has already been over.

“We are also talking to industry body Nasscom to take their suggestions,” the IT secretary said adding, this is extremely important for the IT sector to go to tier-II, tier-III cities when the whole industry is talking about cost reduction to remain competitive. The draft policy is expected to be ready in the next couple of months.

Earlier, Karnataka IT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu had sought the assistance of Infosys Technologies’ chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy in developing the rural IT policy.

Even though Karnataka government has been promoting cities like Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, the large chunk of the IT exports from the state is coming from state capital Bangalore, which houses most of the global and Indian top-tier IT firms.

However, the last two years have seen the IT exports from some of the emerging cities including Mysore and Hubli are growing over 90 per cent year on year.

Among the cities other than Bangalore which is contributing the state’s IT exports, Mysore tops the list followed by Mangalore.

The state also expects that the SEZs once become operational will work as a catalyst for the IT firms in setting up shop in smaller cities. Of the 41 SEZs that have been formally approved in the state with a proposed investment of Rs 20,000 crore, 30 will be in the IT and ITeS space.

Eighteen of the proposed IT SEZs will be in cities other than Bangalore, according to the state IT department.

Meanwhile, a huge IT park called ‘Aryabhatta Tech Park’ has been inaugurated in Hubli which is expected to be a big boost for companies planning to go to the city.

Tech park has been built up on an area of 56 acres, in public private partnership basis.

Ratan Tata likely to meet Yeddyurappa

Ratan Tata likely to meet Yeddyurappa

22 Sep, 2008, 1937 hrs IST, PTI (Economic Times)

BANGALORE: Tata Motor officials have promised Karnataka Chief Minister, who recently offered 1,000 acres of land to the corporate for setting up small car Nano production facility in the state, to arrange a meeting with group Chairman Ratan Tata.
"During the discussions the Tata Motors officials had had with the Chief Minister on September 18, an assurance to this effect was given," State Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani told reporters here today.
Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant had called on Chief Minister Y S Yeddyurappa last week. The State promised all incentives and facilities if the company decided to relocate its Nano car project from Singur, where it has suspended work following protests led by Opposition party Trinamool Congress.
The state cabinet has already promised 1,000 acres of land and other facilities to the Tatas, stepping up efforts to lure the project to the state over which a few other states have also been vying and West Bengal making efforts to retain it.
Tata Motors has manufacturing plants in Dharwad from where its rolls out buses and tractors.
Official sources said the state has already conducted a tour for the Tata company officials in Dharwad so that they get first hand knowledge about the extent of land availability for the project.
Besides Karnataka, other states-- Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Gujarat-- too have been wooing the Tata Group for the Nano project.