Centre, state govts should work together to make Bengaluru global hub for tech centres: Piyush Goyal

Bengaluru: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that the Centre and state government should work together to make Bengaluru the global hub for technology centres looking towards India.

Speaking at the Invest Karnataka-2025 summit here, the minister mentioned the 100 new industrial hubs announced in the recent Union Budget which would be offered in a challenge mode and urged Karnataka Large and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil to work towards creating several industrial hubs in different parts of the state.

He further said that it can be done along with the PM MITRA Park, which he had sanctioned at Kalaburagi last year, which is being developed as a joint venture between the Centre and state government.

The union minister noted that Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, has a large number of global capability centers and many more are coming in the years to come.

"I urge that we should work to promote artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the semiconductor industry, space technology, biotech industry, so that together we can work as partners in progress. We should aim to make Karnataka, to make Bengaluru, the global hub for the technology sectors that are looking to come to India." "The government of India will always be ready and will stand as a pillar of support for Karnataka to expand and grow its global footprints," Goyal said.

Recalling his recent announcement about an industrial smart city in Tumakuru, the union minister said, "It will be one of the largest smart cities with plug and play infrastructure... will be developed as a world class walk to work township, the first phase of which will cover 1,736 acres, and for which work has already started and expected to see the first phase concluding by the end of next year." He also highlighted the potential of the tourism sector to generate jobs and suggested the state government work towards developing Hampi into a fantastic tourist destination.

"The tremendous potential that I see in Hampi, I am sure if we present that as a good business case, as a good tourism destination, when the challenge for selecting the tourist destinations is opened up (by the Centre as announced in the budget), Hampi would be a fantastic destination which should be developed," Goyal said.

According to him, this year, exports will grow to USD 800 billion and Karnataka will play a very major part in our exports -- both goods and services.

"It's a collective effort where we will all work together to make it easier to do business, to bring transparency and a corruption free environment, to attract international investments. We have seen nearly USD 700 billion of investment coming into India as FDI in the last 10 years," he said.

Stressing on the efforts being made to promote the economy, industry, international trade investments, manufacturing and startups, the union minister cited an example of the toy sector.

"Our import of toys has been reduced to half. Our exports are now three and a half times what they were five years ago, and we will soon come out with policies to further promote manufacturing in toys and in footwear, so that we can become a global champion in these sectors, amongst many others," he said.

Goyal also mentioned about a solar park in Tumakuru and said it will only be a beacon of energy, but a beacon of inspiration to other sectors in Karnataka.

"I hope we can promote FinTech, we can promote tourism, the media and animation industry, the gaming industry, so that in the days and years to come, technology should define the growth story of Karnataka, and should become the backbone of India's growth story. Let's build the future together for Karnataka, for India, and for the globe," he added.