Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday urged industry to look beyond Bangalore in developing manufacturing clusters.
“If you shift many industries out of Bangalore, the strain on the City will be less and also, other areas will see development,” Byre Gowda said, addressing delegates at the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India’s (Assocham) Karnataka Manufacturing Summit, titled ‘Karnataka’s Industrial Ecosystem: A Reality Check’.
“We should create other centres that could absorb manpower,” he said, adding that industry bodies must look at locating areas out of Bangalore with a good investment climate where strategic industries could be planned.
“For instance, industries such as domestic and vernacular BPO and garments can look at areas such as Hubli and Belgaum,” he continued, adding, “Development of low-end industries, will create a high-end industry ecosystem.”
The country’s manufacturing sector is seeing tough times, contributing just around 16 per cent to the GDP, as against China whose manufacturing sector contributes around 34 per cent. The National Manufacturing Policy envisages the secondary sector to contribute 25 per cent to GDP by 2025, providing around 100 million jobs.
“Unfortunately, we have developed an imbalance in our economic structure where manufacturing is not being emphasised,” Byre Gowda said, adding that in some developed countries, manufacturing contributes as high as 35 per cent to their GDP.
“We must become a society that supports and promotes manufacturing if we are to establish the economy on a sound footing,” he said.
Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, Karnataka, M N Vidyashankar said that as part of development in the realm of manufacturing, few manufacturing zones are coming up in the State, according to the plan to establish national Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ), as envisaged by the National Manufacturing Policy.
“The first zone is in Tumkur, where a park has ben set up on an area of 12,500 acres, which will see operations of 47 companies. Other two zones are being planned in Kolar and Gulbarga,” Vidyashankar said.