Stakeholders, industrialists present wish-list to CM

Stakeholders, industrialists present wish-list to CM

TNN, 11 February 2010, 10:53pm IST

HUBLI: Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa got a flood of suggestions and requests from various trade bodies, in a pre-budget interaction with stakeholders here on Tuesday.

While sports goods traders wanted tax to be reduced from 12.5% to 4%, agricultural commission agents found a tax of 1.5% too heavy. Residents' associations wanted flyovers in Hubli-Dharwad, while transporters sought the development of ports in Karwar and Kumta. The child development academy wanted land for buildings and senior citizens wanted to travel free in buses without being asked to produce age proof.

Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) president M C Hiremath urged the CM to strengthen the single-window agency for industrial clearance. "The only thing it has accomplished is deciding on allocation of land for industrial units. Entrepreneurs have to approach other departments separately for licence, permits, inspections and no-objection certificates. This should change," he said.

KCCI demanded rationalization of tax structure, lower tax rates and increased infrastructure investment in north Karnataka. He also suggested construction of an iron ore dumping yard near Devikoppa near Kalaghatagi, to avoid entry of ore-laden lorries in the twin cities.

Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation sought a bail-out package and assured market for handloom produce. Lorry owners' association sought reduction in the price of diesel, a permanent truck terminus, and ring roads connecting all major highways around Hubli and Dharwad.

Cotton Merchants' Association president V P Linganagoudar sought government's intervention in promoting cotton cultivation and trade. He sought the establishment of a cotton zone on the lines of the steel zone near Bellary.

BVB College principal Ashok Shettar demanded that Hubli be turned into an attractive industrial investment destination. He suggested setting up of a power plant using gas from the Mumbai-Bangalore pipeline.

Hotel Owners' Association representatives revealed that nearly 70% of hotels were not registered under VAT. They also sought exemption from maintaining accounts for hotels that had a turnover of up to Rs 20 lakh.

Writer-activist Patil Puttappa urged Yeddyurappa to ensure equitable development of all regions to keep away divisive forces from disrupting peace in the state. He asked the government to share the costs of railway projects, build a four-lane road between Hubli and Dharwad, and fill vacant posts of teachers in colleges, especially in the backward areas.

Yeddyurappa promised that he would study the demands before presenting the budget.

Earlier, rural development and panchayat raj minister Jagadish Shettar said it was the first time that a pre-budget consultation was being held outside Bangalore.

Karnataka bags big deals from Hero Honda, Tata

Karnataka bags big deals from Hero Honda, Tata

Srikanth Hunasavadi / DNAThursday, February 11, 2010 13:17 IST

Bangalore: The state government has firmed up the investment proposal of two-wheeler giant Hero Honda to set up its mega plant in Hubli-Dharwad, and has put the implementation of Tata steel plant in Haveri on fast-track.

The Hero Honda manufacturing plant will come up with an investment of Rs2,000 crore, while the Tata Metaliks plant comes with an investment of Rs15,000 crore. “Both the companies are bringing in big ticket investments,” medium and large industries minister Murugesh Nirani said.

Hero Honda has sought 100 acres of land and identified a suitable site near Hubli-Dharwad. This plant can employ 800 people, he said.

Tata is scheduled to set up a three million tonne per year steel plant in Haveri district where it is looking for a 2,000-acre land. About 10,800 people could get employed once it’s in full swing. The company officials recently scouted the area for a suitable site but the land is yet to be finalised, Nirani said.

World’s second largest optical storage media manufacturing company, Moserbaer, too, has come forward to set up a 50mw grid-connected solar photovoltaic project with an investment of Rs850 crore in Chikkaballapur district.

On January 5, 2010, a high-power committee approved 38 projects; a total investment of Rs1.38 lakh crore. Among them, steel giant Arcelor Mittal, decided to set up a Rs30,000 crore six million tonne mega steel plant in the first phase at a 4,000-acre land in Toranagal in Bellary district. The company has paid Rs60 crore to Karnataka industrial area development board for land acquisition, Nirani said.

Karnataka to notify land for Mittal plant at Bellary today

Karnataka to notify land for Mittal plant at Bellary today

Bangalore, Feb 5 (PTI) DH News :

Karnataka will set in motion today the process of acquiring 4,800 acres in Bellary for the mega steel plant being set up by ArcelorMittal, a top official said.

"The government has approved the land acquisition at Kudathini in Bellary district and the preliminary notification will be issued tomorrow in the state gazette", state principal industry secretary VP Baligar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

ArcelorMittal plans to set up a Rs 30,000-crore steel plant with 6mtpa capacity and also a 750mw captive power generation unit, he said.

"We had kept everything ready. Their team visited the place for third time yesterday and said these villages are fine. As soon as they gave me the green signal this morning, we got the approval from chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and we have notified these lands", he said.

Mittal had evinced interest in 4,800 acres located near a Karnataka Power Corporation project, Baligar said adding the land is ready and "we will lend immediately to Mittal."

The Mittal investment would entail job generation of over 10,000 in the long-term, he said.

Mittal's firm had earlier evinced interest to locate their plant at Bijapur, but later chose Bellary, an iron ore rich district, which the government accepted.

Replying to a question on Korean Posco Steel's interest in setting up a plant in the state, Baligar said, "a team had come, they had discussions and we are hopeful. The company was looking at land around Bellary. "But they have not decided".

On mines for these steel plants, he said some mining area in Bellary has been notified. Other mines are also open for application. "They have applied and it has to be decided," he said. In terms of provision of water, he said part of it will come from the Tunghabadra dam and other from the Upper Krishna.

Meanwhile he also said Hero Honda evinced interest to set up a plant entailing an investment of Rs 200 crore, he said, "a team had come, they have seen three sites, one in Hubli and two in Dharwad".

The Hero Honda would require 100 acres for themselves, and 200 acres for ancillaries and may be 100 acres for a township in the long term too, he said, adding however that nothing has been finalised.

Egyptian company Kapsci Coating, which was interested in seeting up a plant for paints, had also been looking for land near Bangalore. "They have seen two-three sites, they will get back to us", he said.

ArcelorMittal zeroes in on Bellary for 6-mt steel unit

ArcelorMittal zeroes in on Bellary for 6-mt steel unit

BS Reporter / Bangalore February 6, 2010, 0:55 IST

ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker, has finalised Kuditini near Bellary in east-central Karnataka to set up its Rs 30,000-crore, 6-million tonne per annum steel plant. A team of company officials visited the site yesterday and indicated they needed 4,900 acres, a senior state government official said.

“The company had earlier shortlisted a place in Bijapur district to set up their plant. But, after visiting the state for the third time, a team of officials from the company today informed us that they want to locate their plant in Kuditini. After discussing the matter with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, we have agreed to provide them land at this place,” V P Baligar, principal secretary, industries and commerce, said today.

A team from Posco, the South Korean steel giant, has also visited Bellary district to look for a project location but haven’t decided.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said the government would provide water for the steel plant from the Tungabhadra dam in Bellary district and the Alamatti dam in Bijapur district. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had already issued a preliminary notification to acquire the land at Kuditini, he said.

The state government has identified 300 hectares of iron ore mines for the company in Bellary district, he said.

The company will sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government during the latter’s global investors’ meet on June 3. The government has invited L N Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal, to be the chief guest at the meet, said Baligar.

The High-Level Clearance Committee headed by the chief minister had cleared ArcelorMittal’s proposal in January. In November last year, a high-level team led by their group board member, Sudhir Maheshwari, and executive vice president, Vijay Kumar Bhatnagar, had discussions with the chief minister, industries minister and officials to discuss the project. The team had visited three locations.

Baligar said investment in setting up ancillary units by small and medium enterprises around the new steel plant was likely to be Rs 25,000 crore.

He said a team of officials from Hero Honda had visited three places in the Hubli-Dharwad area in north-west Karnataka to locate their first manufacturing plant in South India. Last week, the team visited Gamanagatti near Hubli airport, Mummigatti and Narendra near Dharwad. The company requires about 100 acres for their plant, 200 acres for an ancillary park and another 60 acres for their township, he said.

Wipro Technologies has applied for allotment of 50 acres near Bangalore International Airport to establish a software technology park. The state government has given an in-principle approval to their proposal, said Baligar.

Hero Honda Motors has inspected three sites in Hubli-Dharwad industrial belt

Hero Honda Motors has inspected three sites in Hubli-Dharwad industrial belt

5 Feb 2010, 2123 hrs IST, IANS

In a related development, a technical team of Hero Honda Motors Ltd has inspected three sites in Hubli-Dharwad industrial belt in north Karnataka to set up a two-wheeler plant at an estimated cost of Rs.20 billion (Rs.2,000 crore).

"We have shown two sites near Hubli and another near Dharwad adjacent to Tata Motors bus plant. The company is looking for about 100 acres to set up the two-wheeler plant and another 200 acres for ancillary units and a township," Baligar said on the margins of a conclave on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Hubli-Dharwad is about 420 km from Bangalore.

The world's largest motorcycle firm evinced keen interest to locate its first southern plant in Karnataka when its top officials met state's large and medium industries minister Murugesh Nirani in New Delhi last week at a road-show held for the Global Investors' Meet to be held in Bangalore June first week.

Hubli railway station to sport new look

Hubli railway station to sport new look

TNN, 4 February 2010, 10:45pm IST

HUBLI: Come December, the Hubli railway station will wear a new look with the completion of works on the new station building. Food plaza,subways, VIP lounge, escalators, spacious AC waiting rooms, etc, will add to the exiting facilities.

There will be separate and wide exit and entry points. The new building that will come up on an area of 8,000 sqmt will have bus parking facility at the subway level. There will be separate parking lots for two- and four-wheelers.

The new building will be a sort of a monument, considering the materials that would be used in its construction, South Western Railway's Hubli divisional railway manager Adesh Sharma told reporters on Thursday.

He said the work on the new building, that will cost Rs 14 crore, has already started. As many as 148 railway quarters located close to the existing station will make way for the new building. About 90 quarters have already been vacated.

Sharma said the platforms will be increased from four to six once the new building is in place. Platform ticket-vending machines will come up in 3-4 months.

Karnataka Drafts Semiconductor Policy

Karnataka Drafts Semiconductor Policy

By Manu Sharma

Bangalore, Feb 03, 2010 1601 hrs IST

With over 80% of the chip design done in Bangalore, from more than 100 companies, the creation of the semiconductor policy is expected to benefit Karnataka and serve as a guide for other States to emulate. The state expects to earn Rs. 120 billion in revenue from the electronic system design and manufacturing industry by 2020.

Announcing the policy at the ISA Vision Summit 2010, B. S. Yeddyurappa, chief minister, Karnataka said, "For the first time we have drafted such a policy and we shall ensure that its objectives are met. It will be a role model for other states to follow. The focus will now not only be Bangalore but also Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Mysore, Mangalore."

More than 30% of the total potential in the semiconductor industry would be tapped in the state, which would lead to creation of numerous job opportunities, he added.

Rakesh Singh, additional secretary of IT, Government of India said, "India's IT market has grown from $1 billion in 1991 to $47 billion today and Nasscom projects it to grow further to $175 billion by 2020 and this state will drive a major percentage of this growth."

Other salient features of the policy includes provision of Rs. 25 crore by the state government for raising funds from the market to assist start up semiconductor units engaged in design and embedded software and provision of all encouragement and assistance to the solar PV manufacturing units.

To encourage innovation and R&D in chip design, product development and telecom, the state will set up a fund called 'Karnataka fund for Semiconductor excellence' with a corpus of Rs 10 crore. This fund is available for private companies to cover upto 50% of their R&D expenses, subject to a limit of Rs 10 lakh per unit. The financial assistance is subject to repayment of 10 percent of the profit (after tax) annually for a period of 10 years. "Preference would be given to fresh engineering graduates by indentifying talent through projects submitted in the colleges and start-up companies," said Yeddyurappa.

The government has announced a Rs 100,000-crore information technology (IT) hub of around 40 sq km to be created near the new airport at Devanahalli. The huge project will be completed on the lines of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model where all amenities and facilities for IT, ITeS and electronic hardware manufacturers will be made available.

Permanent HC benches

Permanent HC benches

New Delhi, Feb 2, DH News Service:

The two circuit benches of the Karnataka High Court, situated in Dharwad and Gulbarga, will soon be upgraded as permanent benches of the High Court, Moily said.

He said that this long-time demand of the people of northern Karnataka has been acceded to by the Centre. In view of this, the law ministry has just sanctioned the required posts of judges for the two benches.

Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar welcomed the move calling it a victory for the advocates who had taken up the cause of setting up a full high court bench at Hubli-Dharwad.