Even as the political mudslinging in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls continues unabated, Namma Bengaluru is set to play host to top business honchos attending the investors’ meet and the tech summit in the next few days. These platforms offer yet another opportunity for the State Government to spread the fruits of development across the state and to renew its push for taking investments beyond Bengaluru.
Thanks to the availability of skilled manpower, a thriving start-up, an R&D ecosystem, pleasant weather and a unique character that makes anyone who comes to the city feel at home, Bengaluru continues to be the top investment destination in the country, although it faces its own problems in terms of basic infrastructure, civic and commuting issues.
Effectively implementing the “Beyond Bengaluru” initiative will help ease the burden on the city as well as give a push to those districts that require it the most. The majority of industries are concentrated in and around the state capital, while a few other districts including Mysuru, Mangaluru and Belagavi too are catching up. The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) cluster in Dharwad and the Toys Cluster at Koppal are expected to boost economic prospects in and around those districts.
However, the development is not spread evenly across the state. Most districts in the Kalyana-Karnataka region have few manufacturing industries that can generate large employment opportunities, spur economic growth and stop massive migration of blue-collar workers and skilled professionals to Bengaluru and other metropolitan cities.
The region is mostly concentrated with mining industries: iron ore in Ballari and cement lime stones in Kalaburgi. A pharmaceutical cluster is coming up in the Yadgir district and the region is also hoping to get a textile park.
The basic infrastructure and connectivity in the region have seen a drastic improvement in the last few years with well-connected rail, road and air services. Kalaburgi now has a domestic airport, but what is lacking is an international airport in the entire North Karnataka region that would open up a global market for the products.
The state can also leverage Kalyana-Karnataka’s proximity to the international airport in Hyderabad, which is just under 150 km from Bidar. Many areas in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh have benefited from their close proximity to the Bengaluru International Airport, while industrial areas in Tamil Nadu too have seen rapid development by leveraging on Bengaluru’s growth.
Successive state governments have been taking several measures to woo investors, ensure ease of doing business and simplify the land acquisition process. The latest policy initiatives include the Aerospace and Defence Policy, Data Centre Policy and Renewable Energy Policy. While proper systems may have been put in place at the top, in rural areas industries do face certain challenges in terms of connectivity and working with local authorities.
Employment generation also continues to be a major challenge, more so in backward districts. Small and medium-scale industries that are among the big employers faced a tough time during the Covid pandemic. Many even found it difficult to sustain their operations, despite several programmes by the state and central governments to support them.
A state cannot afford to have any region left behind, especially when it is trying to emerge as an engine of growth for the entire country. A recently released report “Karnataka: A $1 trillion GDP Vision”, authored by TV Mohan Das Pai and Nisha Holla of 3one4 Capital, reemphasises the large disparity between North and South Karnataka as one of the challenges before the state.
As the government is expecting to sign MoUs worth over Rs 5 lakh crore during the “Invest Karnataka 2022 – Global Investors Meet“, many districts including those that have hitherto not received big investments will be hoping to get a piece of the pie. The government must show its political resolve and financial sagacity to open its purse strings to aggressively pursue its policies and initiatives to spread investments across the state, even to its most industrially backward districts.
Ramu Patil
Associate Editor
ramu@newindianexpress.com