Karnataka Bags Proposals Worth Rs 72K Cr, With EVs and Solar in Focus

It has been reported that Rs 72,000 crore investment proposals were received at the Invest Karnataka meet for the states’ northern region.

It has been reported that Rs 72,000 crore investment proposals were received at the Invest Karnataka meet, held on February 14, 2020, for the states’ northern region. “About 50 foreign and domestic firms have proposed to invest Rs 72,000 crore in the northwest and northern regions of the state and a dozen companies signed agreements with us,” state Industries Department Secretary Gaurav Gupta said.

Bengaluru-based group, Rajesh Exports signed an agreement to set up a manufacturing unit at Dharwad to roll out electric vehicles and make lithium-ion batteries. “Rajesh Exports proposes to invest about Rs 50,000 crore for manufacturing electric cars and lithium-ion batteries for the domestic and overseas markets. It will generate about 10,000 jobs,” said Gupta.

Similarly, Sonali Power has signed a pact with the state nodal agency (Udyog Mitra) to set up a solar power plant at Davangere at a cost of Rs 4,800 crore, which will generate 2,100 direct jobs.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa claimed several firms had come forward to collectively invest Rs 1 lakh crore since the BJP government came into being in July 2019. “Many Indian and foreign firms will sign agreements with the state government at the 3-day Global Investors meet in Bengaluru on November 3-5,” Yediyurappa said at the ‘Invest Karnataka’ meet.

Noting that Karnataka was rich in natural and human resources, especially in high-tech and skilled workforce, Yediyurappa said investment opportunities were plenty in aerospace, automobiles, machine tools, electric vehicles and biotechnology besides information technology.

Recently, we reported that according to a survey conducted by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) has revealed that the rooftops of 1.4 lakh buildings have the potential to generate 2.5 GW of solar power from rooftop solar systems.

The survey was carried out across 1,176 sq. km in the city. As per the state records, only 205MW capacity of SRTPV (solar rooftop photovoltaic) has been installed till July 2019 in the state, while Karnataka’s solar policy of 2014-21 had set an ambitious target of 2,400 MW for grid-connected solar rooftop projects.