WEF 'very fruitful' for Karnataka, Rs 52k-cr MoUs for investments signed

The Karnataka government on Wednesday said the World Economic Forum Meet in Davos has proved to be "very fruitful", as the team led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has inked MoUs with two major companies for a total investment flow of Rs 52,000 crore.

It is proof of strong faith and trust reposed by major companies in Karnataka, and it is the biggest investment proposal the state recorded in the recent past, the Chief Minister's office said in a statement.

The expected investments from these companies would create employment opportunities for thousands of persons, it said.

The state government has succeeded in wooing the investors in a big way under the leadership of Bommai with able cooperation from Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani and IT, BT Minister C NAshwath Narayan.

Today was Bommai's third day at the WEF meet, during which he had had interactions with a number of business leaders from across the world.

ReNew Power, a leading name in the renewable energy sector, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the State government to invest Rs 50,000 crore.

Noting that the company intends to set up production units in Renewable Energy, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen over the next 7 years in two phases, the release said, in the first phase Rs 11,900 crore would be invested on the ongoing projects in the State and they would be operationalised in the next 2 years.

In the second phase the company plans to invest Rs 37,500 crore to set up Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen units over the next 5 years, it said, adding that the projects spread over two phases would create employment opportunities for about 30,000 people.

The CM has termed this as a milestone in the Renewable Energy sector of Karnataka.

Also, the Lulu Group International has come forward to invest Rs 2,000 cr in Karnataka.

The company intends to open 4 Shopping Malls and Hyper Market, and is also keen to establish export oriented food processing units in the state. The projects are expected to create job opportunities for 10,000 people, the release said.

Highlighting the two new policies of the state--new R & D Policy and new Employment Policy--as part of its endeavor to make Karnataka the most attractive investment destination, Bommai invited the corporate honchos to participate in the Global Investors' Meet to be held in Bengaluru in November and the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Among companies which have evinced interest to invest in Karnataka include Siemens, which is taking up two projects in Bengaluru focusing on Magnetic Imaging and Diagnostics and a health related R & D project.

The state government has assured special incentives for the company to set up its production unit for modern medical equipment. Discussions were also held on the 'Beyond Bengaluru' project to draw investments to Tumakuru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Mysuru cities.

Dassault Systems is keen to invest in Electric Vehicles, Modern Production systems, industrial training for students in Digital 4.0 technology and Smart City project in Karnataka.

Nestle has shown interest to modernise and expand the Nestle Instant Coffee unit in Nanjangud.

Bharti Enterprises Chairman and CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal has expressed its desire to set up a Mega Data Centre in the State. The State government has assured all the necessary cooperation to make it a reality.

Bommai, who met the head of Nokia, suggested making good use of the opportunities in the state for the manufacture of telecommunication products.

Nokia has its biggest Research Centre in Bengaluru with over 7,000 technocrats engaged in research related to 5G, advanced 5G and 6G technologies.

Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Industries E V Ramana Reddy, CM's Principal Secretary N Manjunath Prasad and Commissioner in the Department of Industries Gunjan Krishna were part of the CM's team.

This was Bommai's first overseas trip as Chief Minister. There was earlier speculation on whether or not he will travel to Davos.