Karnataka emerges investors' favourite state; Gujarat left far behind

[email protected] (The Hindu)
August 8, 2016

New Delhi, Aug 8: Gujarat, which was ranked first among all States in 2015 for attracting maximum investment intentions' in value terms, has lost its position to Karnataka halfway through this calendar year.
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Gujarat received investment intentions worth only Rs.21,309 crore during January-June 2016, while Karnataka — which topped the list — received over thrice that amount, or Rs.67,757 crore, during the same period, government data showed.

The Centre, which is co-ordinating efforts to rank states on ease of doing business', also maintains a State-wise break-up of investment intentions in terms of Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda filed for de-licensed sector, Letters of Intent issued and Direct Industrial Licences granted.

Interestingly, the Rs.67,757 crore worth investment intentions received by Karnataka in the first six months of 2016 was more than the Rs.64,733 crore that Gujarat had attracted in the whole of 2015, the year when it topped the all-India list in this regard.

Investors meet

The Rs.64,733 crore-worth investment intentions Gujarat got was 20.81 per cent of the total investment intentions worth Rs.3,11,031 crore that India received in 2015. However, out of the Rs.1,76,738 crore worth proposed investments that India received in January-June 2016, the share of Gujarat declined to 12.06 per cent — or Rs.21,309 crore. Meanwhile, Karnataka's share jumped from 10.18 per cent (or Rs.31,668 crore) in 2015 to 38.34 per cent (or Rs.67,757 crore) in January-June 2016. Karnataka said Invest Karnataka 2016', an investors' meet held during February 3-5 this year, concluded with 1,201 approved projects and MoUs valued at Rs.3.08 lakh crore.

Other leading States in terms of investment intentions' during January-June 2016 were Maharashtra (Rs.15,688 crore), Telengana (Rs.13,600 crore) and Chhattisgarh (Rs.8,514 crore). In 2015, the States in the top five after Gujarat were Chhattisgarh (Rs.36,511 crore), Maharashtra (Rs.33,277 crore), Karnataka (Rs.31,668 crore) and Odisha (Rs.24,524 crore).

Even in the latest Business Reforms Action Plan' index (or measures taken by states to improve ease of doing business), Gujarat was sixth with a score of 53.98 per cent. Uttarakhand topped that dynamic implementation scorecard' with 63.72 per cent, followed by Rajasthan, Telengana, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat government officials rejected apprehensions that incidents (which even led to changes at the Chief Minister-level) — including the Patidar agitation for reservation and more recently, Dalit protests after some of them were reportedly attacked for allegedly skinning cow carcasses — are leading to lower investor interest in Gujarat.

“These numbers (on investment intentions) keep going up and down. Some big announcements could come up soon and the situation can change,” a senior Gujarat government official said, indicating that some major decisions are likely in the run-up to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit that is slated to be held during January 10-13 next year.

Most of the investment intentions that Gujarat has received are getting converted into amount that is actually being spent on the ground, the official said.

Comments

Abdul Latif
 - 
Monday, 8 Aug 2016

we need development only.....good governence

A.Mangalore
 - 
Monday, 8 Aug 2016

If there is no sangha pariwar goondasm in Mangalore, we would been the top district in terms of development. Now investors are feared to come to our district because of these Rss sponsored terrorists.

Rikaz
 - 
Monday, 8 Aug 2016

Fabulous job CM Siddaramayya....keep going Sir! May God help you....Gujarath was not shining whereas Feku was just cheating....

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News Network
January 25,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 25: The Karnataka government would hold a Global Investors' Meet (GIM 2020) in Bengaluru from November 3-5 to showcase the southern state's ecosystem for attracting investments from the world over, an official said on Friday.

"Our Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa held the first road show on the GIM at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, being held at Davos in Switzerland and invited global firms to participate in the 3-day event for investment opportunities," additional secretary P. Ravikumar told IANS.

At a curtain-raiser on "Invest Karnataka 2020" on Thursday, the BJP Chief Minister said the theme of the GIM would be "Innovate Now. Growth Forever" as the state had one of the best natural and human resources for investing in manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors and creating jobs.

"About 100 entrepreneurs, businessmen and heads of global firms participated in the roadshow to assess the state's industrial policies, incentives, infrastructure, tax system and its ease of doing business for investment potential," Ravikumar said.

Among the participants at the event were Swiss-India parliamentary group president Niklaus-Samuel Gugger, Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi, General Electric (GE) executive William Cowan and heads of Gemini Corporation, Coca Cola, SAP Labs, Swiss Re and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

"Khosrowshahi discussed Uber's expansion plans in Bengaluru and assured the Chief Minister of investing more in the state. Cowen expressed interest in the development of healthcare, renewable energy and power distribution across the state through partnership with the state government," the official noted.

The US-based transnational firm (GE) has a large presence in Bengaluru with one its largest engineering and technology centres and two production plants.

"A Coca Cola executive told Yediyurappa that the soft beverage firm would initially invest $25 million in its plants in the state and enhance it to $200 million to benefit farmers and rural people with access to clean drinking water in their villages," Ravikumar said.

The Chief Minister also sought to know the investment or expansion plans of global firms present in the state, especially Bengaluru and assured their heads of the state support in creating hundreds of jobs and wealth.

About 100 members of the Indian delegation to the WEF, led by Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) director-general Chandrajit Bannerjee, Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani, Kirloskar Systems Managing Director Vikram Kirloskar, also participated in the state's GIM roadshow.

State Industries Minister Jagdish Shettar, chief secretary T. M. Vijaya Bhaskar, additional chief secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy and industrial department principal secretary Gurav Gupta also attended the state event.

"Emiriti Lulu Group chairman M.A. Yusuf Ali discussed plans to invest $300 million (Rs 2,160 crore) in logistics, hospitality and health/wellness sectors across the state with Yediyurappa," said Ravikumar.

Ali, an NRI (non-resident Indian) migrated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Kerala two decades ago and founded the Lulu Group at Abu Dhabi to operate a chain of hypermarkets and retail firms since 2000.

"The Chief Minister assured Ali of speedy approvals and incentives for investing in the state, with ease of doing business," the official said in an e-mail to IANS from the Swiss town.

Asserting that his proactive government would work overtime to facilitate global investments in the southern state, Yediyurappa said he was committed to create more jobs across sectors.

Dassault Systems executive Florene Verzelen told the chief minister about her company's plans to set up centres of excellence in smart manufacturing and smart cities in the southern state.

"The centres will train and equip the youth with skilled jobs in large corporations the world over," Ravikumar reiterated.

Yediyurappa apprised US aerospace behemoth Lockheed Martin executive Richard Ambrose of the ecosystem for aerospace and defence industry in the state, especially Bengaluru.

"I will soon visit Bengaluru to explore the possibilities of investing more in Karnataka and taking up research and development work," said Ambrose on the occasion.

A delegation from global automotive component maker Denso also called on the chief minister and interacted with the state delegation.

The Japanese firm has an excellence and research centre in New Delhi and a manufacturing unit at Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Denso executive Hiroyuki Wakabasyi said he would visit Bengaluru soon to explore further investments in the state.

"Arcelor Mittal chairman Laxmi Mittal also met the chief minister and discussed his company's investment plans in the state," the official added.

Mittal backed out of setting up a steel plant in the state's northern region over a decade ago due to delays in acquiring land and mandatory approvals.

Drug maker Novo Nordisk chief executive Lars Fruergaard expressed readiness to work with the state government in taking up educative and awareness programmes for diabetic patients.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 20: The Dakshina Kannada district administration had declared certain areas in the district as containment zones after COVID-19 positive cases were detected from there.

A seal down has been declared in these zones, completely banning all movement of the people including leaving their houses.

In Ajjavara, Sullia taluk a one-kilometre containment zone has been set up on April 19.

The zone stretches from Ankotimar Road and includes Forest agriculture land and the residences of Savera and Achar.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan after his discussions with Saudi Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, on global oil market developments said that Saudi Arabia has assured India of uninterrupted supply of LPG.

"Had a video conference with HRH Prince Abdulaziz, Saudi Minister of Energy and Mr Amin Nasser, President and CEO @Saudi_Aramco. We discussed about the global oil market developments and on uninterrupted LPG supplies from Saudi Arabia to India," Pradhan tweeted.
"HRH Prince Abdulaziz assured of LPG supplies in the coming days to support our domestic requirement," Pradhan added.
While there has been a slump in fuel demand owing to the nationwide lockdown, cooking gas demand has reportedly surged in the country.
The Prime Minister had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19 which has left thousands dead around the world.

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