Karnataka CM Bommai’s Davos tour ends, MoUs worth Rs 52,000 crore signed

ReNew Power and the Lulu Group have agreed to invest in Karnataka.

The Chief Minister highlighted the two new policies of the state--New R & D Policy and New Employment Policy--as part of its endeavour to make Karnataka the most attractive investment destination. (Express Photo)

Written by: Kiran Parashar

4 min readBengaluruMay 26, 2022 07:59 AM IST First published on: May 25, 2022 at 10:56 PM IST

Karnataka’s team at the World Economic Forum in Davos, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two major companies, for a total investment flow of Rs52,000 crore, the government said on Tuesday.

Along with the two deals signed, other companies have expressed interest in investing in the state, the government said.

Here are the firms that have shown interest in Karnataka.

Bommai invited the corporate honchos to participate in the Global Investors’ Meet to be held in Bengaluru in November and the Bengaluru Tech Summit. (Express Photo)

Success at Davos

* ReNew Power, a leading name in the renewable energy, sector signed an MoU with the state government to invest Rs50,000 crore. The Chief Minister termed it “a milestone in the renewable energy sector of Karnataka”. The company intends to set up production units in renewable energy, battery storage and green hydrogen over the next seven years in two phases.

In the first phase, Rs11,900 crore will be invested on the ongoing projects in the state. In the second phase, the company plans to invest Rs37,500 crore to set up renewable energy and green hydrogen units over the next five years. The projects spread over the two phases will create employment opportunities for about 30,000 persons.

* The Lulu Group International has come forward to invest Rs2000 crore in Karnataka. The company intends to open four shopping malls and a hyper market. It is also keen to establish export-oriented food processing units in the state. The projects are expected to create employment opportunities for 10,000 persons.

The Chief Minister highlighted the two new policies of the state–New R & D Policy and New Employment Policy–as part of the government’s endeavour to make Karnataka the most attractive investment destination. He invited corporate honchos to participate in the Global Investors’ Meet to be held in Bengaluru in November and the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Companies which have evinced interest to invest in Karnataka

Siemens

Siemens is taking up two projects in Bengaluru focussing on Magnetic Imaging and Diagnostics and a health related R & D project. The state government has assured special incentives for the company to set up its production unit for modern medical equipment. Discussions were also held on the ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ project to draw investments to Tumakuru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Mysuru cities.

Dassault Systems

Dassault has evinced interest to invest in Electric Vehicles, Modern Production systems, industrial training for students in Digital 4.0 technology and Smart City project in Karnataka.

Nestle

Nestle has expressed its keenness to modernise and expand the Nestle Instant Coffee unit in Nanjangud.

Mega Data Centre by Bharti

Bharti Enterprises Chairman and CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal has expressed keen interest to set up a Mega Data Centre in the State. The State government has assured all the necessary cooperation to make it a a reality.

Ikea store in Bengaluru

CEO of Ingka Group(Ikea), Jester Brodin, met Bommai and held discussions in the backdrop of an Ikea Store being opened in Bengaluru. The Ikea store(furniture) is set to be inaugurated at Nagasandra in June. The India head office of Ikea is in Bengaluru and issues related to extensive use of Bamboo and other locally available raw materials in making of furniture came up for discussion during the meeting.

Axis Bank

CM Bommai has suggested Axis Bank to take up upgradation of some of the engineering colleges and universities in the state under its Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) programmes.

Nokia

Bommai, who met the head of Nokia, suggested making good use of the opportunities in the state for the manufacture of telecommunication products. Nokia has its biggest Research Centre in Bengaluru with over 7000 technocrats engaged in research related to 5G, advanced 5G and 6G technologies.

Industries minister Murugesh Nirani, IT, BT minister CN Ashwathnarayan, Additional Chief Secretary in the department of Industries EV Ramana Reddy, CM’s Principal Secretary N Manjunath and Commissioner in the department of Industries Gunjan Krishna were part of the CM’s team.