Karnataka chasing $6.2 billion investments, offers new ESDM policy

IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge announced on Tuesday, that the Karnataka government is working on a 'special' policy to give the semiconductor sector a push in the state.

Bengaluru: Karnataka is expecting investments worth $6.2 billion from European companies, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge announced on Tuesday, with his government working on a 'special' policy to give the semiconductor sector a push in the state.

The proposed investments originated from a government delegation’s visits to the London Tech Week, the Annecy International Animation Festival (France), BIO 2024 (San Diego, US) and Germany recently.

“We’re expecting close to $6.2 billion as investment. Details of these investments will be submitted to the State High Level Clearance Committee. Some of the investors have already applied for subsidies,” Priyank said, adding that investments expected are in the areas of aircraft tyre making, chip manufacturing and global capability centres.

The minister is hopeful of converting these investment interests into actuals. “Earlier, the conversion rate was low as we weren’t specific. At investment meets, more and more letters of intent were signed. This time, we’ve made specific vertical-based visits. So, we’re engaged and hopefully, marriage will happen soon,” he said, adding that the government wants to close the deals before 180 days.

Priyank said human resources in Karnataka are “the most in demand” and the state is not competing with Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh. “We’re competing with China, Vietnam, US and European nations,” he said. “So, we need to make our human resource employable for future or emerging technologies,” he added.

New policy

Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation chairperson Sharath Bachegowda, who was part of the delegation that visited Europe and US, said the government is bringing out a new Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) policy.

“We held talks with SEMI, a global semiconductors companies association, on what should be Bengaluru's strategy for the future. We're looking to position Bengaluru and Karnataka at the cutting edge of semiconductor technology. We're coming out with a special ESDM policy as part of these discussions,” Sharath said.

Sharath said 100 startups from Karnataka will get support under the Startup Genome Global Hypergrowth Acceleration Programme.

‘Big win for Bengaluru’

Sharath said the government has clinched a deal with Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign to bring its Founders’ Forum initiative to Bengaluru. The government will partner with Stanford Biodesign in its med-tech startup mentorship and accelerator programme. “This is a big win for Bengaluru,” Sharath said, adding that a Stanford team is expected to visit Karnataka in July to take things forward.