KOCHI: All's fair in love and war, and to attract investments. This seems to be the message that industries minister P Rajeeve is telling his counterparts in other states as he woos companies to make big investments in Kerala.
Responding to Karnataka industry minister's criticism that Kerala government's campaign to shift from Bengaluru due to water crisis, was "detrimental to India's federal structure", Rajeeve pointed out that no one had any problem when one state send a special aircraft to Kochi to take business from Kerala.
He was indirectly referring to the incident in 2021 when the then Telangana government sent a special flight to take Kitex managing director Sabu Jacob and a five member team to Hyderabad.
"We have been wooing companies to make investments in Kerala. In our presentation, we added one more point, that Kerala offers unlimited supply of water," Rajeeve told reporters here on Tuesday.
M B Patil, Karnataka's minister for commerce and industries, had criticized Kerala's move, and said the state was taking "undue advantage" of the water scarcity situation in Bengaluru to attract companies. He further said that it was "detrimental to the federal structure of the country".
Rajeeve pointed out that all the states are trying to attract more and more investments into their respective states. "Kerala is also making an aggressive pitch to woo investments at the moment. And thanks to our efforts, we are able to attract investments to the state. When special aircraft was sent to take our business to other states following some labour disputes here, it did not become a controversy. But, when we invite businesses to our state, people are talking about federal structure," he added.
The Kerala industries minister said it's not the question of taking away someone's business. "What we are trying to say is that there's immense scope for new investments to come and invest in Kerala. We are telling the world that we are ready to do business. Our Technopark is India's first software park. We have one of the best air quality here. A recent poll found Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi as the two most secure cities for women software engineers," said Rajeeve.
Further, he referred to a recent report by ILO. "The report mentions Kerala on employability ahead of even Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Three states have created more employability among the youth. Kerala stands ahead because of women's employability and the presence of women in work places," said Rajeeve.
As part of the state's efforts, IBM has come to Kerala, and is expanding fast. "Another leading IT company Cognizant's new facility (at Infopark, Kakkanad) was inaugurated by the Chief Minister. We are also looking at another space for Infopark," the minister said.
He said big companies are also exploring setting up their offices in rural parts. For instance, an Italian design company is establishing its office in Alangad in Ernakulam.