Signs 352 MoUs for Rs 4 lakh crore investment at GIM.
The Karnataka government has managed to sign 352 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) amounting to a grand total investment of Rs 4 lakh crore at the two-day global investors' meet (GIM) which concluded here on Friday. The projects, once implemented, will provide employment to 865,000 persons, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said here.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the state has received proposals for 56 projects involving an investment of Rs 78,395 crore, for which the high level clearance committee will accord in-principle approval over the next few days. For other proposals, the state had given in-principle clearance over the last six months.
"We are geared up to ensure the projects are implemented in a time-bound manner. We have constituted a cabinet sub-committee under my chairmanship which will review progress regularly. The chief secretary will review the project implementation every month and once in three months, I will review its progress," Yeddyurappa said.
He said, response from the global investment community was overwhelming and the state has set an example for the rest of the country to follow by conducting the GIM 2010. During the two days, Yeddyurappa held one-to-one discussions with industrialists like Lakshmi Niwas Mittal of ArcelorMittal, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, Sashi Ruia of Essar Group, in addition to top honchos of various companies such as R S Sharma of ONGC and senior executives from Posco, Bhushan Steel among others and promised them all help in implementing their projects.
"GIM 2010 proved to be a landmark in the history of Karnataka's industrial growth. The state has emerged as the premier destination in the country for investments," he added.
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Giving sector-wise details of MoUs signed at the event, V P Baligar, principal secretary, department of industries and commerce, said, the iron and steel sector dominated with 38 proposals involving an investment of Rs 2.21 lakh crore. This is followed by the cement sector, which got Rs 36,991 crore from nine projects and thermal power sector got an investment of Rs 25,214 crore from eight projects.
When asked how the state would ensure the allocation of iron ore for the steel making projects signed at the GIM, the chief minister said, "Presently 80 per cent of the iron ore produced in the state is exported. Henceforth, we will put a brake on export-oriented units and issue mining licences to only those companies who will make value addition locally."
The government has completed hearing in the case of one new mining licence and the recommendation would soon be made to the Centre for consideration, he said.
He said the state could not sign MoUs with many foreign companies during the two days as they could not participate in the event due to the paucity of time. The government will sign MoUs with them over the next few days. About 20 per cent of the investment received at the GIM was foreign direct investments, Yeddyurappa added.
The two-day meet witnessed participation of 5,000 delegates. The overseas delegates came from the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, France among others. Among the fresh proposals that came up during the meet, Mahindra Life Spaces, a real estate firm, has shown interest in investing in the state. Enercon Group has expressed interest in adding additional capacity in wind power generation in the state.
Pawan Kumar Ruia of Falcon Group held discussions on their expansion and diversification plans for production of high performance tyres. MARIB Infrastructure Industries, an Indo-Malaysian project, has expressed interest in investing in infrastructure.
"Our team of officers would continue to pursue these investment intentions to its logical conclusion and early fructification. It is a significant demonstration of investor faith and interest in the state and I am very happy about it," Yeddyurappa said.