12 Tata firms keen to invest in Karnataka, says official

12 Tata firms keen to invest in Karnataka, says official

Economic Times - 31 May 2010, 2127 hrs IST,IANS

BANGALORE: At least 12 companies of the $70-billion Tata Group have shown interest in investing in Karnataka and help develop infrastructure, a senior official said on Monday.

"A delegation of Tata firms has evinced interest in housing, hospitality and steel sectors. We have approved a proposal from Tata Metaliks to set up a steel plant at Haveri in central Karnataka and offered land to the group for housing projects at different locations in the state," Industries and Commerce Principal Secretary V P Baligar told reporters here.

In the run-up to the Global Investors' Meet (GIM 2010) June 3-4, the Tata delegation led by Tata Steel vice-chairman B. Muthuraman held discussions with Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh R Nirani and officials to find out what the state government was offering to prospective investors.

"We are interested to invest in Karnataka in power, steel, housing, tourism, communication and aerospace sectors and look forward to full support of the state government for the ongoing projects and future investments in the state," Muthuraman said.

The Tata Housing Development Co has shown interest in replicating its Nano housing model in the state, which offers budget flats for about Rs 400,000.

"We have agreed to offer land at various places, including Devanahalli and Doddaballaupur near Bangalore, Dharwad in the northern region and Mysore and Harohalli in the southern region," Baligar said.

Tata Power has shown interest to investment in gas-based power plant at Gadag, Belgaum or Davanagere in the northern region of the state.

The state government has also offered to allot land anywhere in the state for any Tata group project.

The state high level clearance committee has already cleared the proposal of Tata Elxsi to expand its software development park in Bangalore.

Representatives of Tata Sons Ltd, Tata Housing Development Company Ltd, Tata Communications, Tata Power, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata International Ltd, Tata Chemicals Ltd, Tata Docomo and Indian Hotels Company Ltd also participated in the discussions.

Rs. 5-lakh cr.-worth investments coming Karnataka's way: Nirani

Rs. 5-lakh cr.-worth investments coming Karnataka's way: Nirani

THE HINDU - SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Photo: K. Murali Kumar

400 MoUs to be signed during Global Investors Meet

BANGALORE: Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries Murugesh R. Nirani, with Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, V.P. Baligar, at a press conference in Bangalore on Monday.

The investment proposals being cleared by the Karnataka government are now expected to touch Rs. 5-lakh crore by the end of the two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM) that begins in Bangalore on June 3, according to Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries Murugesh R. Nirani.

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Monday, after inspecting the preparations for holding the GIM at the Palace Grounds, the Minister said the government had decided to hold a meeting of the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) on the last day of the GIM (June 4) as new investment proposals were still coming in. The SHLCC would accept applications on investment proposals till noon on June 4, he said.

The Minister said the government would sign about 400 memoranda of understanding with leading industrial houses such as ArcelorMittal (Rs. 30,000 crore for a steel plant); Shell (Rs. 1,376 crore for a R&D Centre); Lafarge (Rs. 1,500 crore for a cement plant); Tata Elxsi (Rs. 486 crore for a hardware designing unit); Birla Cement (Rs. 3,000 crore); Reliance (Rs. 6,796 crore for gas pipeline); GAIL (Rs. 8,656 crore for gas pipeline), Infosys and Wipro.

More than 2,000 delegates were expected to participate in the GIM, he said.

Top industrialists and investors who had confirmed their participation included Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal, Kumaramangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group, Raghupathi Singania of JK Tyres, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, Vikram Kirloskar of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Vijay Mallya of the UB Group.

Posco may exit Karnataka project, Tatas seek entry

Posco may exit Karnataka project, Tatas seek entry

Posco will most likely not go through with its Rs32,336 crore proposal after the steel giant was denied a mining licence in advance for the Bellary plant

Live Mint Madhurima Nandy and K. Raghu

Bangalore: Even as Posco’s plan to set up a steel plant in Karnataka may be on the verge of getting scrapped, the Tatas are in advanced talks to invest Rs10,000 crore in the southern state.

Tata Sons Ltd is seeking to put money into sectors such as real estate, infrastructure and power across 9-10 projects, Murugesh Nirani, Karnataka’s small- and medium-scale industries minister, said in Bangalore on Monday.

Posco will most likely not go through with its Rs32,336 crore proposal after the steel giant was denied a mining licence in advance for the Bellary plant, the minister said.

It won’t now be part of the Rs3 trillion of investment expected to come to the state, the minister said, three days before the Advantage Karnataka-Global Investors Meet (GIM) that’s scheduled to be held this week.

Brotin Banerjee, managing director, Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd, said the realty arm of Tata Sons had significant interest in the state as part of the group’s investment plans.

Karnataka lost out in the race to host the Nano car plant, which went to Gujarat after being forced to leave West Bengal.

Of the total promised investments so far, the single largest share had belonged to Posco, followed by ArcelorMittal India Ltd’s Rs30,000 crore steel plant project, also in Bellary.

Most of the investments are in the steel and cement sectors, more than half of which is in the mineral rich areas of northern Karnataka.

The two-day GIM is taking place after a decade, with ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal expected to be present at the inauguration.

“Posco had too many conditions and also wanted a captive mining licence as a pre-condition before any investment, but we didn’t agree to it,” said V.P. Baligar, principal secretary (industries) in the Karnataka government.

When asked about the Karnataka project, Posco-India Pvt. Ltd vice-president Vikas Sharan said, “It is being handled directly from Korea. We are not handling this; we are responsible for only the Orissa project.” An email sent to Posco’s Korea office was not answered.

ArcelorMittal has already paid Rs260 crore towards land acquisition to the Karnataka Industrial and Area Development Board while Posco has not made any payment to the government even after its project was approved earlier in May, said a senior government official, who didn’t want to be named.

“We have applied for a mining licence for three mines in Bellary and are awaiting clearance,” said a senior ArcelorMittal India official.

“The final clearance comes from the Central government,” the official added.

madhurima.n@livemint.com