BENGALURU : Between April 2018 and February 2022, Karnataka cleared more than 1,100 new industry projects — over 540 of them in the 2021-22 fiscal alone — indicating a renewed push from both the government and industry.
The government also approved additional investments of some industries, reflecting improvement in the overall sentiment. These are projects cleared through the state-level single-window clearance committee (SLSWCC) and the state highlevel clearance committee (SHLCC).
Data from the industries department shows the 1,112 new projects cleared in the past four years will attract a total investment of more than Rs 1. 3-lakhcrore once they are implemented and create jobs for more than 4. 5 lakh people. Around 49% or 544 of all the new projects were approved in 2021-22 (up to February 2022).
They are expected to bring in over Rs 41,401 crore and employ nearly 1. 3 lakh people. Of the remaining projects, the least (161) were cleared in 2018-19 (see graphic). Gunjan Krishna, commissioner, commerce and industry, said: “We are talking to many investors every day and the market sentiment has certainly improved.
Besides this, policies on China (attracting investments from companies looking to exit from there) and others have had an impact. Even if you look at the FDI numbers, we have consistently been number one in the first three quarters. ” She, however, cautioned that the Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant inflationary impact may delay some of the investments by a few months. “We are not sure of the magnitude of the impact but anticipate that it may cause some delay in the money coming in.
But we are confident that investor sentiment is positive about the state,” she said. Besides the projects, SLSWCC and the SHLCC have approved 54 projects for additional investments (around 31% this fiscal). Therefore, overall, the state has approved 1,166 projects in the past four years, nearly 48% in 2021-22. Together, these 1,166 projects are to bring in more than Rs 1. 4-lakh-crore investments.
Of all the projects approved, six worth Rs 1,082 crore have been implemented creating 1,842 jobs, while eight worth Rs 958 crore have been grounded. The grounded projects were to create 17,443 jobs. Additionally, six projects worth Rs 567 crore have been dropped by entrepreneurs/industries. These would have created 6,763 jobs. The remaining projects are under implementation.
