Karnataka to give thrust to manufacturing sector

The Karnataka government has set up a task force to recommend measures for boosting the manufacturing sector's contribution to the gross state domestic product, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Wednesday.

"As the manufacturing sector is key to growth, competitiveness and the state's economic development, we are setting up the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ) across the state to enable investors set up industries across verticals," Siddaramaiah said after laying the foundation stone for the German automotive major Bosch's new plant at Bidadi, 30 km from Bangalore.

As envisaged in the national manufacturing policy, the central government has approved the state's proposal to set up the first NIMZ in 12,500 acres of land at Dobbespet in Tumkur district, about 70 km from Bangalore.

"We have applied for approval to set up two more NIMZs at Kolar and Gulbarga in the northern region of the state to increase the sectoral share of manufacturing in the state GDP to 12-14 percent during the 12th plan period (2012-17)," the chief minister said.

With huge natural resources and a vast talent pool of workforce, the state has a competitive edge to attract investments in the NIMZs and create an ecosystem for cluster growth of industries across verticals to manufacture goods domestic and export markets besides generating employment.

"Karnataka has built a manufacturing base with large state-run enterprises like Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, Hindustan Machine Tools and many more in the private sector across verticals, including automobile, aerospace, textiles and machinery and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)," Siddaramaiah said.

The state government has also set up a skill development corporation and vocational training centre in Bangalore to meet the growing requirement of the industry in manufacturing and services sectors.

The national manufacturing policy envisages increasing the sectoral share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 percent over the next decade and generating 100 million jobs in the sector through an annual average growth rate of 12-14 percent.

"We are setting up four help desks in Indian embassies in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the US to attract FDI to help investors from these countries to explore opportunities in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in the state,"