BENGALURU: Invest Karnataka 2016, the state government’s investment jamboree, lived up to some of the hype surrounding it on day one of the meet. As a galaxy of industry bigwigs and Union Ministers descended on Bangalore Palace Grounds for Wednesday’s inaugural, a clutch of big-ticket investments too were announced. Bengaluru’s notorious traffic too found mention with business czars appealing to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for help.
The meet saw a blurring of political divisions as several Union ministers graced the event, organised by a Congress-ruled government. While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the three-day event, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Fertilisers and Chemicals Minister H N Ananth Kumar and Gadkari offered help to build infrastructure.
Karnataka and its growth story was the highlight of the event as Jaitley said the state had the potential to grow 2-3 per cent faster than the country. “Given its rich natural resources, a first rate talent pool and inclination of people to learn and innovate, the state should be growing faster than India. I am sure it will,” Jaitley said.
Gadkari offered Rs 1 lakh crore to develop roads and ports over two years, while Kumar promised a urea manufacturing unit and institutes — Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology and National Institute for Pharmaceutical Education and Research — in Karnataka.
Industry titans too spelt out multi-crore rupee plans for Karnataka — Gautam Adani announced a Rs 21,000-crore in investments, while auto components major Bosch rolled out a Rs 1,000-crore expansion plan. Anil Ambani, Sajjan Jindal and Kumar Mangalam Birla also lined up mega investment plans.