Karnataka sees sharp dip in investment flow

The inflow of investment proposals into the state has come down drastically by 44.6% in the first eight months of the calendar year 2018.

According to the data available with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the investment proposals submitted to Karnataka government for the period January to August stood at Rs 79,866 crore. In comparison, during the same period last year, the state had received Rs 1,44,131 crore worth of investment proposals.

However, when compared to the like period in 2016, the state had witnessed rise in 2017. In the first eight months of 2016, the investment proposals stood at Rs 1,18,697 crore.

There has been a dip in investment proposals at national level as well, albeit a marginal 2.2%. Nationally, the country witnessed investment proposals worth Rs 3,00,094 crore till August, against Rs 3,06,821 crore in 2017.

Despite this dip, Karnataka remains at the top of the table among Indian states when it comes to garnering attention of the investors.

Officials in the industry department attributed the drop to the elections in the state and the code of conduct that has led to the dip in the investment.

"We hope to match the figures of last year by the end of this year," Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, IT, BT and S&T and Large and Medium Scale Industries, Government of Karnataka told DH.

"The focus of the government is on the implementation of the existing projects and getting the pipeline cleared," Industries Minister K J George said.

However, the data suggests that after the new government took charge, the state has been able to garner investments worth Rs 4,431 crore only.

The second placed Gujarat has seen investment proposals worth Rs 51,586 crore in 2018, while poll-bound Rajasthan is at the third slot with investment intentions worth Rs 35,150 crore.

Among the states with strong industrial base, only Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have seen huge decline in the investment proposals. However, AP which has seen a decline of 48% has a far lower investment base than Karnataka. The southern neighbour of Karnataka garnered investments worth Rs 22,250 crore in 2017 and Rs 11,660 crore in 2018.

On the other hand, Gujarat, with investment proposals worth Rs 51,586 crore till now in 2018, has seen a decline of only 2%.

However, the implementation issues persist in the state as the implementation stands at a mere 5.9% of the total investments into state in 2018. Although, substantially higher than the last year, the state has seen implementation worth Rs 4,723 crore in 2018.

In terms of implementation, Maharashtra takes the cake with the investments implemented worth Rs 21,197 crore, followed by Gujarat at Rs 20,373 crore.