Karnataka attracts Rs1.6 trillion investments

Karnataka attracts Rs1.6 trillion investments

Livemint -Shamsheer Yousaf

Bangalore: The Karnataka government on Thursday signed agreements that propose Rs1.6 trillion in private investments in the state.

Power and infrastructure conglomerate GVK Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government at the Global Investors Meet 2012 to spend Rs29,000 crore to build power plants.

Suzlon Group chairman and managing director Tulsi R. Tanti signed an agreement with chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to set up 3,000MW of wind and solar energy projects, investing Rs20,000 crore. Welspun Energy signed an MoU to build a windmill and solar park for Rs9,900 crore.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman and managing director of the Aditya Birla Group, proposed to invest Rs6,150 crore to expand its cement factory in the state, and another Rs395 crore to set up a caustic soda plant. “We will also be expanding our fibre plant in Harihar and our alumina plant in Belgaum,” Birla said.

The Embassy Group signed an agreement for Rs14,370 crore for an information technology and logistic warehousing park, and Ascendas India Trust signed an MoU for Rs10,483 crore for an integrated IT and electronics park at Bagalur near Bangalore.

Sun Forest City, a joint venture of Gurgaon-based investment firm Sun Group and US-based real estate enterprise Forest City, signed a Rs9,340 crore deal for the development of an aerospace city. The group will also provide an ecosystem for aerospace industries in three phases near the Bangalore international airport.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman of the state’s vision group on information and communications technology, said the state government is aiming to increase information technology (IT) exports from $25 billion to $70 billion by 2020. Pai was previously director, human resources, at software services firm Infosys Ltd and is now chairman of Manipal Education.

Chief Minister Gowda said his government is taking steps to acquire land near Bangalore airport to establish a software park, an electronic hardware park, and an aerospace park to harness the vast potential in this sector.

“Karnataka is also the first state in the country to promote nano-science and nano-technology. The state has also provided land for the establishment of Indian institute of nano-science and technology, and for the establishment of an international centre for theoretical sciences,” he said.

N.R. Narayana Murthy, a founder and chairman emeritus of Infosys, said there was a need to diversify beyond IT and Bangalore. “We need to diversify our industrial base to other sectors like textile and power,” he said.