Karnataka govt sets task force for new industrial policy

The Karnataka government has constituted a task force headed by former Union commerce secretary P P Prabhu to suggest and formulate a new industrial policy.

The present policy expires by March 31, 2006 and the new policy will be in place starting from the next fiscal, said state industries minister P G R Sindhia.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the task force will consist of seven members drawn from industrialists and economists, who will review the existing policy and formulate the new policy for the next five years starting 2006-07.

Sindhia said a cabinet sub committee headed by him has come out with several plans for the revival, privatisation and disinvestment of state public sector undertakings. The recommendations of the sub committee will be placed before the cabinet for approval next month. A decision will be taken to this effect before October 18, he said.

Giving details of the proposals, he said the sub committee has proposed to privatise Mysore Paper Mills (MPM) and merge Kavika (Karnataka Vidyut Karkhane) with Bescom (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company). Among other state PSUs that will be taken up for privatisation are Mysore Lamps and NGEF.

There has been a considerable delay in the disposal of assets held by these two companies, which run into Rs 60 crore and Rs 800 crore respectively.

The minister said the land belonging to several PSUs has been encroached upon and measures will be initiated to recover them. Instructions have been issued to the state chief secretary to assess the extent of land held by various PSUs in the state and submit the report to the government.

Sindhia said he has convened a meeting of commercial tax and excise department officials on September 21 and 22 to review the progress of tax collection in the state till now after the implementation of VAT (value added tax).

Explaining the export performance of the state during 2004-05, Sindhia said the state has registered exports worth Rs 62,000 crore, a growth of 30 per cent over the previous year. The state is now ranked second in the country behind Maharashtra in the total exports. Its share in the country's total exports during the last fiscal stood at 14.5 per cent.

While the IT and software sector contributed Rs 20,000 crore the remaining Rs 42,000 crore came in the form of exports of other goods such as readymade garments, gem and jewellery, petroleum products, plastic goods, agriculture and silk products, he said.

Commenting on the steps taken by the coalition government towards the industrial development, he said 2,000 acres of land has been allocated at Mysore for industrial development. Five new industrial estates will be developed around Bangalore such as Dobbspet, Doddaballapur, Anekal, Kanakapura and Ramnagar.

The state government has also earmarked Rs 25 crore each for the development of airports at Hassan and Gulbarga, while the upgradation of airports at Belgaum and Hubli will be taken up at Rs 25 crore and Rs 20 crore respectively.

"We are expecting similar cooperation from the Central government for the development of these airports," he said.

The government will also sign an agreement with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the development of Mysore airport on September 23 in Bangalore in the presence of Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel, he added.