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.

 

Gangubai’s house now Gangotri museum

Gangubai’s house now Gangotri museum

Manu Aiyappa | TNN

Gangubai Hangal

Dharwad: Tuesday will go down as a Red Letter Day in the annals of Indian classical music, when chief minister B S Yeddyurappa dedicates ‘Gangotri’ —- the birthplace-turned-museum of renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Gangubai Hangal, to the nation. According to the organizers, it is the first of its kind in the country being dedicated to a “living legend”.
   The museum (birthplace) of Gangubai Hangal is located in Shukravarpet of Dharwad. For years, whenever she visited Dharwad, Gangubai made it a point to visit Shukravarpet, just to have a glimpse of the house where she was born and brought up.
   Moved by her sentiments, the state government decided to acquire the property, which Gangubai had sold to one Krishnaji Venkatacharya Kittur in 1957. Krishnaji had later sold it to Dasoi Kulkarni in 1963.
   Dasoi Kulkarni, who had a son and four daughters, died in 1989.
   The district administration took up the issue with the legal heirs of the property to acquire the house and they consented to sell it to the government for Rs 10 lakh.
   Another Rs 15 lakh was needed, as per an estimate for renovating the old house which was almost in ruins.
   Yeddyurappa, when deputy CM in the erstwhile coalition government led by Kumaraswamy, sanctioned Rs 25 lakh to acquire the house when the proposal was put before him.
   Later, the district authorities with technical assistance from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) took up renovation and converted it into a heritage building.
   Experts from R V College of Engineering, Bangalore, were roped in for technical inputs on the renovation, based on which Nirmiti Kendra, Dharwad, began the work. “We made every effort to retain the original look of the house, although a part of it had collapsed. Even the wooden pillars have been retained and some weak ones were replaced with the same wood,” said Kendra members.
   The authorities now plan to start a music school as per the wishes of the music legend. She had also suggested that one of the rooms in her ancestral house be dedicated exclusively to the teaching of music.
   The main hall and two rooms have rare photographs and books related to music and musicians, promising to be a part of the itinerary of tourists to Dharwad.