Karnataka expects Rs 5 lakh crore during ‘Global Investors Meet (GIM)-2016’

Bengaluru :The Karnataka government is expecting investments worth Rs 5 lakh crore during the ‘Global Investors Meet (GIM)-2016’ in February next year.

“The government is hopeful of attracting Rs 5 lakh crore investments that would help the state to grow and create jobs,” State Industries Minister R V Deshpande said on the sidelines of ‘Invest Karnataka 2016’ roadshow here.

The global investors meet will be held between February 3-5 next year.

The state plans to woo investors in various sectors such as manufacturing, agro and food processing, tourism and smart townships.

Deshpande assured industrialists that the government will do everything possible to enable companies to conduct businesses ethically, seamlessly and easily.

“The state is adding 2,000 MW of power generation capacity and will provide uninterrupted power to industries from June 2016. The future is in hi-technology and hi-technology is being made in Karnataka. 3D printing, nano technology, advanced materials and robotics are the technologies, which will define the way we live and work for the next few decades,” he said.

According to him, Karnataka’s USP is a powerful combination of a highly skilled workforce, great technical and technological expertise and a thriving cluster based ecosystem.

“This is the reason Karnataka ranks as the 4th most innovative clusters globally along with Silicon Valley, Boston and London,” he claimed.

He further said Karnataka has become the hub for all these technologies and over 360 MNCs have their R&D and innovation centers in the state across sectors.

These include Airbus, Rolls Royce, Huawei, GE, Texas Instruments General Motors, AstraZeneca, Intel, Yahoo, Microsoft, Samsung, Bell, ABB, Cisco, Accenture and Continental.

The roadshow saw the signing of an MOU between the Karnataka government and edible oil manufacturers Ruchi Soya, which will invest Rs 350 crore in both agriculture and energy sectors.

Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Steel, which has around Rs 50,000 crore worth investment in Karnataka, endorsed the state as the first state of choice in the country today.

Jindal said that the infrastructure in the state is improving rapidly and land and power is easily available.

PTI