Invest Karnataka 2025 steals a march on previous editions

Bengaluru: The promises borne out of the latest Invest Karnataka - Global Investors Meet held from 12 - 14 February, seem to be fructifying faster than the event’s previous edition.

This year’s meet roped in Rs 10.27 lakh crore in MoUs and committed investments and two of the projects have begun work with more close to being finalised, a source aware of the progress told DH.

From Invest Karnataka’s previous edition in 2022, only two projects have been implemented, out of the total investment of Rs 5.41 lakh crore and just 14 per cent capital invested of the additional Rs 3.26 lakh crore committed, according to a response in the state's Legislative Council sessions. 

A total of 3,250 “entrepreneurs” participated in this year’s GIM, according to the reply by Industries Minister MB Patil, to a question in the ongoing Session. While 2,892 are from within Karnataka, 286 are from other states and 72 from other nations.

S Selvakumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, told DH on the sidelines of a recent event that about Rs 4 lakh crore worth of investments out of Rs 10.27 lakh crore have been approved.

How projects have fared on-ground

The two projects from the latest GIM, on which work has already begun, include the bottling machine manufacturing plan in Kolar by German food and beverage manufacturing company Krones, with an investment of Rs 315 crore. The second is a Rs 390 crore project set up near Devanahalli by International Battery Company (IBC), a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for EVs. 

Apart from this, some projects are close to being finalised and expected to start work in the next few months.

These include US-based semiconductor equipment manufacturing company Lam Research’s Rs 10,000 crore investment. Another is Exide’s Rs 4,000 crore investment on expanding cell manufacturing. Karnataka’s Emmvee Energy, manufacturer of solar photovoltaic panels and modules, will put in another Rs 15,000 crore soon to establish a manufacturing plant. 

Then there is Baldota Group’s Rs 54,000 crore steel plant in Koppal. While this was set to begin, work has been temporarily stopped following protests by residents due to strong environmental concerns. Negotiations are going on, as per the source, but the project has its necessary clearances and must go on in the proposed location due to availability of raw material.

A total of 21 districts in the state saw investments committed during the GIM, according to the response by Patil. The largest amount went to Vijaynagara, which saw Rs 1.9 lakh crore poured into the district from five companies. Second is Koppala, which received around Rs 1 lakh crore promised by three companies, followed by Tumakuru (Rs 75,480 crore from six firms). 

Amongst sectors, renewable energy led with Rs 3.44 lakh crore in investments from 14 companies. Following this was core (cement and steel) with Rs 1.43 lakh crore from another 14. 

How did 2022 edition fare

The last edition of Invest Karnataka was from November 2-4, 2022. During the event, 57 companies agreed to invest Rs 5.41 lakh in Karnataka. Out of this, a total of 20 companies have been approved to start work, with a capital investment of Rs 2.01 lakh crore.

However, only two of these projects have been implemented so far. 

An additional Rs 3.26 lakh crore investment was pledged for 606 projects, of which 52 have been implemented so far. A capital investment of Rs 45,000 crore has been made which is approximately 14% of the amount pledged. 

“The remaining projects are in various stages of implementation. As all these are huge projects, implementation will take at least 3-5 years,” said Patil in his answer.