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Karnataka government clears ₹2.7k crore investment proposals, 6,800 jobs in the offing
“Keeping up the industrial growth momentum, the industries department late on Thursday approved 81 industrial projects worth ₹2,689.51 crore that would generate jobs for over 6,825 persons in the state,” Karnataka’s minister for large and medium industries Nirani said in a statement on Friday.
The Karnataka government said on Friday that it had cleared 81 new industrial projects valued at nearly ₹2,700 crore, which would have the potential to generate over 6,800 new employments in the state.
The decision to approve the projects was made at the 132 state-level single window clearance committee meeting, chaired by Karnataka’s minister for large and medium industries, Murugesh Nirani.
“Keeping up the industrial growth momentum, the industries department late on Thursday approved 81 industrial projects worth ₹2,689.51 crore that would generate jobs for over 6,825 persons in the state,” Nirani said in a statement on Friday.
“The committee has considered and approved seven important large and medium-size industrial projects with an investment of more than ₹50 crore. These projects worth ₹1,229.43 are expected to create employment opportunities for 1,734 persons in the state,” the statement added.
There were also 71 projects with investments between ₹15-50 crores, valued at a total of ₹1308.06 crore and generating 5,091 new jobs.
Three more projects worth ₹151.42 crore were also approved with a total of 81 projects, totalling ₹2,689.51 crore and generating 6,825 jobs.
The approval of projects comes at a time when Karnataka, like its counterparts, are trying to attract investments into the state to overcome the prolonged sluggish economy on account of the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns and the slowdown.
Karnataka signed at least two big-ticket investment interests last one month, totalling around ₹1 lakh crore. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland between May 22 to 26, the government signed a memorandum with Gurugram, Haryana-based ACME Cleantech solutions private limited for an investment of ₹52,000 crore to establish a hydrogen and ammonia plant with the associated solar power unit in Mangaluru, about 350 kms from Bengaluru.
ReNew Power, a large player in renewable energy, also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to invest ₹50,000 crore over seven years to set up production units in the state.
However, Karnataka has also scuttled several investment proposals on account of delays in clearances, land acquisition and other bureaucratic hurdles.
The delays in procuring land for industries under Section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act cost Karnataka a chance to convert investments totalling over ₹39,000 crore and a chance to create over 80,000 jobs between 2013 and 2019, Mint reported in November 2019.
The act has since been amended along with other changes to industrial and labour laws to make it more attractive for investors to fund projects in Karnataka.
The Karnataka government has already announced to hold the Global Investors Meet (GIM) in November this year to attract more investments into the state and generate more jobs, ahead of next year’s elections in which chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is hoping to return to power.
