South Bengaluru to house city's second airport: Deputy CM D K Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The government is considering a second airport in south Bengaluru, said Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 on Tuesday, where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the Karnataka Space Technology, IT and Startup Policy 2025-30.

In March 2025, the state government had finalised three locations for the second international airport: two on Kanakapura Road near Kaggalipura and Harohalli and one on Kunigal Road in the north.

Inaugurating the three-day tech summit, Siddaramaiah said the state has always led the country in policy innovation. Karnataka launched the country’s first IT policy in 1997, he said and that the new policy is aimed at transforming the state into a global destination for innovation and deep tech.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Shivakumar said, “We are spending over Rs 1 lakh crore to improve Bengaluru’s infrastructure.” He listed out mega projects, including a 40-km twin tunnel costing Rs 42,500 crore, a double decker metro line (41 km) costing Rs 18,000 crore and the 74-km Bengaluru Business Corridor costing Rs 27,000 crore. He said the government will start a separate secretariat for NRIs to streamline services and a residential layout for NRIs.

Shivakumar also announced that the government will build an international complex to house global business houses in the city apart from building a world-class AI city spread over 9,000 acres near Bidadi.

Explaining new policies, Siddaramaiah said with the Space Tech policy 2025-2030, the government aims to position Karnataka as the country’s leading space technology hub, capturing 50% of the national market and 5% globally by 2034.

Though more details of the Startup Policy will be revealed at the Future Makers Conclave at the BTS on November 20, the CM mentioned that the policy aims to enable the creation of 25,000 startups over the next five years through strategic interventions in funding, market access, infrastructure talent development and social inclusion.

Under the Space Technology policy, Karnataka aims to hold 50% of the national market share - $22 billion market by 2033. As part of this, a space technology cell will be set up under Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS).

Under the new IT policy 2025-2030, the government targets to achieve generation of over 90 lakh direct and indirect jobs before 2030. Currently, the state accounts for 43.67% of the nation’s total software exports.

“Karnataka is home to over 16,000 startups and the state accounts for nearly 47% of the country’s total startup funding. Karnataka contributes 42% of India’s IT exports, valued at over Rs 3.2 lakh crore, growing at a rapid 27% year-on-year,” he said, adding the state hosts over 550 Global Capability Centres (GCCs).

Shivakumar said 60 nations are participating in the event. “Over 1,200 exhibitors, 15,000 delegates, and more than 10,000 startups are attending the BTS event,” he said.

The CM also launched the KEO (Knowledge-driven, Economical, Open-source), an AI-ready personal computer designed and developed in the state for Rs 18,999.