The Global Investors Meet in Karnataka is off to a great start as the State has received more-than-expected investments. The State Industries Minister, Murugesh Nirani, said it has signed MoUs for investments of around ₹7.6 lakh crore across industrial sectors and cities. Adani Group, Sterlite Power and JSW Group were the major companies to announce investments.
Adani group will invest ₹1 lakh crore over the next seven years, in a bid to expand its footprint in multiple sectors. JSW group plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore over the next five years in all of its Karnataka-based businesses. Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports & SEZ Limited, and Sajjan Jindal, Chairman of JSW Group, made the announcements today.
Similarly, Sterlite Power’s MD Pratik Agarwal said a large chunk of its ₹50,000 crore investment in renewable energy would be made in Karnataka.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was present at the event, said investment proposals of ₹2.8 lakh crore have already been cleared by the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. “Karnataka has made sure the policy consistency is held up and has an extensive industry consultative process, which attracts investments,” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “Karnataka is a place with both technology and culture, it even competes with other countries in terms of development. When talent and technology are talked about, ‘Brand Bengaluru’ strikes the minds of everyone”.
Karnataka had initially expected to get investments of ₹5 lakh crore. These investments in turn were expected to create employment for 5 lakh people, but now it is being raised to 8 lakh. The event saw investments come in from various sectors — electronic design and manufacturing, e-mobility, aerospace defense, and data centers and core sectors of iron, steel and cement.