CM woos global investors, aims to help Karnataka rural economy

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SME Times News Bureau | 23 Jan, 2020
Showcasing Karnataka at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa is eyeing global firms to create jobs through investment in the southern state, an official said on Wednesday.

In one-on-one meetings with global enterprises on the margins of the event, Yeddiyurappa said he was looking for investments in sectors that would help the state farmers and its rural economy, as the manufacturing and services sectors were doing better than the agriculture sector.

"We want investments in projects that will boost the state's economy, provide jobs to thousands of youths and raise incomes of lakhs of farmers and other rural folk," said Yediyurappa.

"The Chief Minister has urged global investors and multinationals to invest in Karnataka in sectors that will create more jobs in the state's rural and semi-urban areas," state Additional Secretary P. Ravikumar told IANS in an email from Davos.

A 10-member team from Karnataka is participating in the five-day WEF summit since Monday. It is part of the Indian delegation led by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Chief Minister invited 2000 Watt company to invest in the state's agro-food processing and products for value addition and better remuneration to growers and farmers.

"The Swiss firm said it had technology and resources to invest in food clusters across rural areas where over 60 per cent of the state's 70-million population live," said the senior official.

Scientist and academician Andreas Binkert told the Chief Minister that his company (2000 Watt) would provide farm techniques to grow healthy food in the southern state and then market them after value addition.

2000 Watt's founding partner Madhav Bhagwat explained to the state delegation the concept of smart cities for improving the quality of people living in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities across the state.

As an expert in carbon-neutral smart township development projects, Watt signed a pact with the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) in western Maharashtra.

Global auto major Volvo president Hanka Angwel also interacted with the Chief Minister and his delegation on the company's Indian subsidiary expansion at Hoskote near east Bengaluru.

Haryana's Gurugram-based ReNew Power expressed interest to set up solar power plants in the state's arid lands, especially in the northern districts like Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur and Vijayapura.

"We are planning to set up power storage batteries and gadgets to store power produced in excess of the state's demand," ReNew chief executive Samanth Sinha told Yediyurappa and sought speedy approvals for proposed businesses in the state.

"Global firms and investors told the state delegation to make land acquisition hassle-free by amending relevant laws, which are archaic and lead to delays," noted the senior official.

Assuring the investors of all help in ease-of-doing business, Yediyurappa told them that he was ready to go the extra mile to help them invest across the state sectors.

State Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijayabhaskar, Additional Principal Secretary Industries Gourav Gupta and IT-BT Secretary V. Ramanareddy were present at the investors meet.