Rs. 8,600-cr. investment in the pipeline

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 12. The Large and Medium Industries Minister, Mr. R. V. Deshpande, on Thursday said that last year's global investors' meet had fetched an investment of Rs. 8,621.66 crores with the commissioning of 31 projects worth Rs. 433.66 crores and another 59, including 12 major ones, were in progress.

Briefing the Press on the status of implementation of the projects, the minister said this was a good achievement, given the economic slowdown witnessed world over.

Besides, five tourism units with an investment of Rs. 38.26 crores had been commissioned with 15 others under way, attracting Rs. 1,152.32 crores. All these projects, barring one, would come up near Bangalore.

He said the single window agency (SWA) had cleared 178 projects with investment proposals of Rs. 2,243 crores. Of these, 30 with proposals to the tune of Rs. 325.56 crores had been commissioned.

The High Level Committee (HLC) had cleared 47 projects with an investment proposal of Rs. 23,081.72 crores, out of which one (Rs. 108.10 crores) had been commissioned. He said 59 projects - 47 by the SWA and 12 by the committee - with investment proposals of Rs. 8,621.66 crores were under progress. Mr. Deshpande said 112 units, which both the wings of the department had cleared, were in the approval stage, meaning the investors were approaching the Government for sanction. Investments in these units would be Rs. 16,025.09 crores, he said.

Of the 47 projects cleared by the SWA, 10 each would be commissioned in the third and fourth quarter of this year. The highlight of the meet, the minister said, was that the State attracted 15 power projects, including two with an investment of Rs. 6,500 crores. The minister said the SWA had suspended 16 proposals (Rs. 119.85 crores) and dropped five projects (Rs. 47.19 crores) for economic and personal reasons given by investors. The Star TV would be investing Rs. 450 crores on the Star City project.

Asked about the infrastructure created for attracting investors, he said the Cabinet sub-committee concerned proposed to approach the HUDCO for a Rs. 100-crore loan for roads. This would fructify in two months. Mr. Deshpande said the Government would not start any industry but would provide infrastructure.

Mr. B. S. Patil, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industry, said negotiations were on with some companies, including one from Malaysia, for constructing minor airports in Hubli, Mysore and other cities.

About the actual investment in a year, Mr. Deshpande said getting an investment of about Rs. 9,000 crores, including those in progress, was a good achievement. There were only five public issues in the country last year, he added.

Mr. Neelakanth Raj, Secretary, and Mr. Gurucharan, Director of Industries, said the Government had succeeded in making Karnataka a preferred destination among investors. Mr. Sriram, Managing Director, Udyog Mitra, said the State's growth rate in GDP was 6.20 per cent compared with the national GDP growth rate of 6 per cent. The overall growth rate in industrial sector was 7.70 per cent as against 6.60 per cent at the national level.

Mr. Deshpande said the Government was organising a three-day India Partnership Meet here from January 10 in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry to attract investments.

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