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The Tuesday Interview | 'I'm clearing 50-100 projects a month, what about Telangana, Tamil Nadu?'

'Telangana and Tamil Nadu have tried to capitalise on communal incidents in Karnataka by wooing investors'
Last Updated 06 May 2022, 14:20 IST

Karnataka is gearing up to host Invest Karnataka, its flagship global investors meet (GIM), this November. Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani tells DH’s Bharath Joshi why Karnataka pips other states on investments despite concerns that the rising communal temperature in the state could hurt the inflow of projects. Excerpts:

What is the outlook for the GIM? How is the government preparing for it?

We conducted the GIM in 2010 and 2012 successfully. We inked agreements worth Rs 10.87 lakh crore, and the conversion rate was about 27%. It was less because the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government denotified 1.25 lakh acres of land that we had acquired with farmers’ consent. How will industries start without land? Between 2013 and 2019, efforts were not made to conduct a GIM. And we had the pandemic in the last two years. I’m an industrialist, so I know the pain of investors. We’re doing the ‘Udyami Aagu, Udyoga Needu’ entrepreneurship development scheme. We’re addressing investors’ problems by going to their doorsteps with on-the-spot solutions. Before GIM in November, we’re making infrastructure ready -- land, power, policy. We’re supporting investors with everything.

In 2020, the Karnataka Industries Facilitation Act was amended, allowing industries to start operations with a 3-year window to get approvals. Has this yielded results?

We call this the Affidavit-based Business Clearance (ABC). It hasn’t taken off because bankers aren’t supporting this. For example, banks ask how a loan can be given without pollution clearance. Banks fear they’ll be in trouble if pollution clearance gets rejected subsequently. But, from our point of view, industries will get breathing time. If operations start without approvals, then the scope for harassment will reduce. Getting all approvals will need 1-2 years. Land conversion alone takes six months.

Concerns have been expressed that Karnataka will lose out on investments due to communal incidents. Even Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw warned about this.

We’re the ones working on the ground. Nobody is bothered about such things. Last Saturday, I cleared 56 projects in just 20 minutes, which shows that our intention is clear. Every month, I’m clearing 50-100 projects. There’s a saying: for a person whose stomach is full, even huggi (a sweet dish) will taste thorny. Such people who have already reached a certain level should provide suggestions instead of making such statements.

Don’t you think such statements are counter-productive to the ease-of-doing-business reforms you are pushing?

There will be some percentage of impact. But investors will see how much truth there is in such statements. One must also understand the intent behind such statements.

Telangana and Tamil Nadu have tried to capitalise on communal incidents in Karnataka by wooing investors.

They will make statements and issue advertisements. Why aren’t investors going there? How many investments do they get monthly? We’re number one in India when it comes to foreign direct investment. While we got 42% FDI, the remaining 58% went to other states. That’s a huge gap!

Has any industrialist expressed concerns with you?

I asked many people over the phone -- Fortune 500, Fortune 100 companies in Bengaluru -- on how we can improve. They said Karnataka is the number one state for investment-friendliness. Sample this: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana...all of them wooed Exide. But Exide is investing Rs 6,000 crore in Karnataka. Why didn’t they go to the other states?

What do you make of the rise of Hosur? The likes of Ola and Ather went there.

Those who occupy (my) chair must have a goal. They should know what is needed to set up an industry. How many of my predecessors and senior IAS officers have visited our industrial areas to understand problems? How many farmers have they met during land acquisition? If there’s some problem, they simply return. In Mysuru last month, there was a strike by workers of Asian Paints and some land-losers. I went there, met them and solved their problems. If we’re losing an industry to a neighbouring state, do we try to talk to the investor to understand why? I am doing that by asking them what concessions they want. I went to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. This resulted in Toyota investing Rs 5,000 crore in Bidadi, whereas they wanted to go to Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.

But Hosur scores with cheap land.

We have areas where an acre of land is priced at Rs 10 lakh. We also have areas worth Rs 10 crore. It really depends on the land investors choose. For Tamil Nadu, Hosur is a village as it’s too far from their capital city. For us, Hosur is the neighbour of Electronics City and Whitefield. In Sira (Tumakuru), we have land at Rs 10 lakh per acre. In Chitradurga, it’s between Rs 25 and 50 lakh. In Hubballi-Dharwad, it goes up to Rs 1 crore. Will you get cheap land next to Chennai? It’s their land, but the infrastructure is Bengaluru’s.

What about availability of land?

We are identifying 50,000 acres before the GIM in November. In three months, we will have a minimum of 1,000-2,000 acres in every district. This wasn’t there in the previous government. Who will invest in the state if there’s no land? And no one bothered to address problems. All that was done was to sell the land that was acquired. Power, water supply, skilled workers...we’re focussing on all this.

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(Published 02 May 2022, 17:07 IST)

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