B’Lore: State pulls out all stops for investors

DHNS

• Govt anticipates investments worth Rs 4 lakh crore

Bangalore, 03 June 2010: Karnataka’s day with investors has finally arrived. Bangalore Palace appeared resplendent after being spruced up to host the two-day Global Investors’ Meet, bearing the theme ‘Advantage Karnataka’, that will begin on Thursday.

The State government, which is anticipating nearly Rs 4 lakh crore in investments in various sectors, is all set to flaunt its strength in an effort to convince global business leaders that investing in Karnataka would indeed be advantageous. It is hopeful that the meet would help rake in at least 60 per cent of the projected target.

Business magnates

Some of the top names in business –– Lakshmi N Mittal of ArcelorMittal, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, Shashi Ruia of Essar Group, Azim Premji of Wipro, Vijay Mallya of UB Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys –– are scheduled to take part as chief guests in the conclave’s inaugural function. JSW Steels managing director Sajjan Jindal will skip the meet though he has been invited as one of the chief guests.

A gathering of such proportions is being organised after a span of 10 years. The last Global Investors’ Meet was held in 2000, when S M Krishna was chief minister. At that time, the government had aimed at tapping an investment of Rs 27,700 crore, of which Rs 13,000 crore was realised.

Senior BJP leader and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is scheduled to inaugurate the event at 10.30 am. Subsequently, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily will throw open the exhibition showcasing the State’s investment potential to the industry captains. Planning Commission member Dr K Kasturirangan will launch an interactive website.

As many as 2,500 business leaders, including those from Reliance, Shell, Lafarge, Tata Elexi, Videcon Group, Bharat Forge, GMR, Surya Roshini, Hinduja Group, GVK Group, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Jaypee Group, Bhushan Steels and Volvo India, are expected to be present. Delegates from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Singapore, China, South Korea and Australia have already arrived in the City.

The government has set itself two goals — attracting more investors and formally launch projects that have already been finalised. It has identified 12 key sectors –– aerospace, minerals, tourism, biotechnology, automobile, IT, infrastructure, power, food processing, textile, health and education –– where it seeks to woo fresh investments.

Ministers, along with their department heads, are scheduled to conduct 15-minute sessions on their respective sectors.

Through these sessions, efforts will be made to apprise industry representatives of the investment climate and clarify questions. These sessions are spread across both days, and four halls, with a capacity of 400 people each, have been set up exclusively for this purpose. Besides, a main hall with a capacity of accommodating 3,000 people has been set up for the inaugural and concluding events.

As many as 400 MoUs are likely to be inked, including a Rs 30,000-crore steel plant by the biggest steel manufacturer, ArcelorMittal. An upbeat State government has decided to receive fresh project proposals till 12 noon of June 4 and sign MoUs, if possible.
It has also decided to roll out special incentives and packages to ‘big’ investors. A Cabinet empowered committee headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has been set up to look into investors’ requests in this regard. This apart, the government has established a co-ordination committee headed by the Commerce and Industries principal secretary to interpret the industrial policy on providing special incentives.

Interestingly, though many of these projects were cleared by the Yeddyurappa-headed high-level clearance committee a long time ago, the signing of an MoU has remained pending.

Unlike in the past, a majority of the proposed projects are coming up outside Bangalore in tier-II and tier-III cities. The government has restricted Bangalore for aerospace and high-end IT only. Of the expected investments, the manufacturing sector, especially iron and steel, has the lion’s share.