Karnataka govt mulls cutting project clearance time by 50%

The Karnataka government is proposing to amend provisions under section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, wherein the time of obtaining clearance for projects will be brought down to 30 days from the existing 60, Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Thursday.

This will be applicable for both acquisition and conversion of land, a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) release quoted him as saying.

Shettar said during the recently held 'Invest Karnataka' conference at Hubballi, 52 companies signed MOUs with the State government with an envisaged investment of Rs 72,000 crore and potential employment of 90,000.

Principal Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka, Gaurav Gupta said Karnataka is a USD 250 billion economy of which USD 90 billion is exports.

With growth rate higher than the national average and lowest unemployment rate in the country, the State is key to fulfilling India's aspirations of becoming a USD five trillion economy, Gupta said, according to the statement.

"There are several advantages that Karnataka offers including robust ecosystem, skilled manpower and vast talent pool. However, one of the key concerns is job creation.

We need to analyse in what way industry can create more jobs across the social spectrum and not just for the skilled and educated," he said.

The Karnataka government is committed to changing the image of the state to an innovation hub from an outsourcing hub, Gupta said, addressing the annual members meet of the CII Karnataka State Council.

The soon-to-be-announced industrial policy of Karnataka would work on pushing industrial growth beyond Bengaluru to tier 2 and 3 cities of the state where industry will find ample opportunities to invest and grow, he added.