Invest Karnataka 2022, the Global Investors Meet of the state, kicked off on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering a virtual address and hailing 'Brand Bengaluru'.
"It is the place where there is both tradition and technology with a unique confluence of nature and culture. When we talk of talent and technology, the first thing that comes to mind is the Brand Bengaluru, which has now been established worldwide," said PM Modi.
Following him, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, addressed the summit and asserted that investors are willing to come to the state.
"Karnataka is a leader in many sectors. First in renewable energy, because 63% of all our installed capacity lies in renewable energy. First in electrical maintenance, innovation, home to about seven plus auto Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) -- more than seven of them are here and 50-plus auto component manufacturers are here," said Sitharaman.
Her sentiments were echoed by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal who delivered a keynote address and said that Karnataka is a state where "wiser people look to invest".
"In almost all rankings among states, Karnataka is performing exceedingly well. A real destination to be in, invest in, make in and serve from," he said.
Major announcements regarding investments coming to Karnataka were also made during the day.
- The state government signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 5.20 lakh crore on the first day.
- The 'Manufacturing – Green Hydrogen and Derivatives' sector attracted investments of Rs 2.9 lakh crore by ACME (Rs 51,865 crore), ReNew and ABC (both Rs 50,000 crore each), Avaada (Rs 45,000 crore) and JSW (Rs 43,470 crore), among others.
- Vedanta assured Rs 80,000 crore investment in the 'Renewable Energy' sector, which got total MoUs worth Rs 1.29 lakh crore.
- Agreements worth Rs 47,475 crore were signed under the 'Manufacturing – Sunrise' sector.
- The core manufacturing sectors such as mining, iron, steel and cement got investments of Rs 25,024 crore.
- In addition, Asian Gautam Adani's group promised to invest almost Rs 1 lakh crore over the next seven years in Karnataka. The group has already made investments of over Rs 20,000 crore in the state.
- JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal said that they plan to invest Rs one lakh crore in Karnataka over the next five years. Further, he also stated that the JSW Bellary steel plant in the state will soon be the largest in the world.
- Micro-mobility service provider Yulu promised an investment of Rs 1,200 crore to deploy a fleet of one lakh EVs and operationalize an EV battery charging and swapping infrastructure in the state over the next five years.
- As a result of these, the state raised its funding goals by Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 7.5 lakh crore.
- Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also asserted that Karnataka is the only state to have attracted such a large response from investors following the Covid-19 pandemic.
