Karnataka has attracted highest investments in India: CM B S Yediyurappa

Karnataka has attracted investments worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore and this is the highest in India, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said Thursday.

This will create 70,000 direct employment in the state, Yediyurappa said while wooing investors during his address to the 7th National Forum 2020 of the New Delhi-based Public Affairs Forum of India that was held virtually.

Yediyurappa was referring to investment proposals that have come since January this year.

“Karnataka is the favoured choice of investors and is home to 400 of the Fortune 500 companies in the world. The state is currently ranked second in terms of FDI investments for the period ending June 2020,” Yediyurappa said.

Hailing the state as one of India’s most “industrially-advanced”, Yediyurappa said Karnataka’s economy was worth nearly US$ 250 billion. “The state has been leading the country in several sectors. The state has traditional strengths in a wide range of industries such as machine tools, heavy machinery, automobiles, electronics, aerospace & defence, biotechnology,” he said.

Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar pointed out that the state had launched an “ambitious” reforms programme to make it “easier, simpler and quicker” for businesses to start up. The state’s new industrial policy 2020-25 will create large-scale employment opportunities, he said, while promising “bringing ease to regulatory compliance for businesses.

The government has amended the law to provide temporary clearances to establish industries and companies will get three years to apply for various clearances. The government is also working on automated trade licence renewal and streamlining industrial inspections.

“The current pandemic has taught us the importance of building a strong value chain,” commerce & industries principal secretary Gaurav Gupta said. “As a leading industrial state, Karnataka offers industries to not only localize supply chains and de-risk their operations, but also strengthen the local ecosystem that would help in creating cost-effective and sustainable solutions,” he said.