Karnataka will soon get huge investments: Minister

Bangalore: Mr Murugesh Nirani, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries, said that investments of over Rs 2 lakh crore are likely to flow into the State in the next two years. Nearly 100 “concrete proposals were gathered from investors” during his recent business tour of the UK and the US, he added.

According to Mr Nirani, Karnataka has “built up a substantial land bank” which is available for industrial use. “Farmers are not averse to sell their land, if the price is right,” he said. He said the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has been entrusted with the task of identifying build the land bank.

The KIADB’s legal cell will help in hastening the acquisition process, he added.

Mr Umesh said the Government has already notified about 30,000 acres for acquisition across the State. “Of this, about 5,000-6,000 acres is already with the Government,” he said.

Farmers will be paid market compensation, and wherever possible, jobs in the units that were set up on land they vacated, he said.

“Alternatively, farmers are free to organise themselves into cooperatives in order to negotiate a better price for the land they sold to industrialists,” he added.

Dry land, especially land which could support only a single crop during the year, could be used for industrial purposes without any serious repercussions, he said.

Mr Nirani said that the State Government has hired the Infrastructural Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL & FS) as consultants and advisor for conducting the Global Investors’ Meet in Bangalore on January 16 and 17, 2009.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry are partnering the Government to host the summit.