North Karnataka's investment potential showcased

North Karnataka's investment potential showcased
Hindu.com


BRIGHT FUTURE: Malcolm Wagget, Chief Operating Officer, HSBC, Hyderabad, delivering the keynote address at the launch of BIC Society in Belgaum on Wednesday. Development Commissioner for North Karnataka V. Umesh, KLES Chairman Prabhakar B. Kore, and BIC President B.S. Patil are seen.

Belgaum: BIC (BPO-ITES-CRM) Society's launch here on Wednesday showcased the investment potential in north Karnataka in general and Belgaum in particular for the prospective investors in the information technology sector, including MNCs.

It is for the first time that an organised and consistent process has been initiated to project the "unexploited" infrastructure facilities, skilled manpower and intellectual resource available in the region. The message BIC sought to send across is that Belgaum has best of the "untapped" infrastructure facilities and a congenial atmosphere and that it can be a good host among the secondary cities in peninsular India for all those companies and investors who are looking to expand or launch fresh ventures in the sector.

In a brief chat with presspersons that followed the launch, though Malcolm Wagget, Chief Operating Officer of HSBC, Hyderabad, maintained that HSBC has no plans to come up with more units in India, he kept his options open. He also said that the company will keep an eye on the market in reply to a question whether one of the biggest banking and financial organisations would be interested in making investments in Belgaum.

Apparently, the four hours he spent in the city is too little to decide on crucial issues such as investments of vast nature. Yet, a silver line and a moral booster for BIC came from the fact that Mentek IT Solutions became the first company to announce the setting up of a small facility in the IT sector in Belgaum in the next three months.

"The process has indeed begun," said founder president of BIC and former Chief Secretary, B.S. Patil. The BIC will keep marketing secondary cities such as Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad in north Karnataka (and Davangere), keep inviting chief executive officers and industrial leaders so that they themselves can ascertain infrastructure available in the region, including educational institutions, medical facilities, skilled and talented human resources, a congenial working atmosphere and moderate climatic conditions.

It may not happen in a day or two. Yet the efforts to draw the attention of the investors in the IT sector would continue as there is abundant potential and talent in the region, which, for some reasons, could not be marketed or projected sufficiently to ensure investment commitments.

Earlier, Mr. Wagget, who lit the lamp to mark the launch of BIC, briefly spoke about the activities of HSBC, which, he said, was reaching out secondary cities in India and other countries. He said the country has a large pool of technically qualified English-speaking men. Other indicators of growth included the ability of Indian vendors to push operations rapidly, focus on cost-effective business model and importance of profitability.

The Karnataka Lingayat Society Chairman and MLC, Prabhakar B. Kore, who took the lead along with the Karnataka Law Society Chairman, S.M. Kulkarni, and two other educational institutions, People Education Society and Bharatesh Education Society, in signing memorandums of understanding with BIC to train young commerce, science and arts graduates and make them ready for the IT sector or any other industry, attributed the growth of the IT sector in Bangalore to the talent from north Karnataka.

At least 40 per cent of the workforce in IT industries in Bangalore is from north Karnataka, including some of the top executive and leaders. "All of them have graduated from Hubli and Belgaum. But we could not use their talent due to lack of investments," he said.

The Development Commissioner for Northern Karnataka, V. Umesh, appealed to the STPI Director (Karnataka), B.V. Naidu, to expedite the proposal for setting up STPI in Belgaum in this financial year itself.

Mr. Naidu said though the Governing Council of STPI had considered the proposals for setting up STPI parks in Belgaum and Gulbarga, the Union Government had decided to set up the park first in Gulbarga and then in Beglaum.

The Deputy Commissioner, Shalini Rajneesh, the Chief Executive Officer of Manthan Services, Bangalore, Gururaj Potnis, and the Chairman of BIC, M.S. Subhas, spoke.