In the last two years, Dharwad district has received investment proposals to the tune of ₹ 500 crore in the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, Joint Director of District Industries Centre (DIC), Dharwad, P. Nagesh has said.
He was addressing a press conference along with President of Karnatak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Ramesh Patil and other office-bearers in Hubballi on Friday to elaborate on the awareness programmes being conducted in Hubballi on the Vendor Development and Investors Summit to be held in Bengaluru.
Mr. Nagesh said that the proposals pertained to setting up around 2,000 MSME units in the district, with the objective of creating hundreds of employment opportunities.
He however said that it was difficult to quantify the time within which the investment proposals would materialise. “The state government will be usually fixing a time limit of two years for going ahead with the investment proposals after giving necessary sanctions. However there are various technical issues which may delay the execution of the proposals”, he said.
To a query, he said that most of the proposals for Dharwad district pertained to valve components and precision equipments. He further added that Dharwad district had the potential for MSME sector and attempts would be made to attract investors to set up bigger industries in the region.
To another query, Mr. Nagesh said that the state government had sanctioned ₹ 157 crore in the last two years to improve the infrastructure in the industrial estates of the district so that more investors came to invest in the region. He admitted that despite efforts the district was yet to get major investors to invest in the region.
Mr. Ramesh Patil said there was need for the State government to announce special package or incentive to attract investors to tier-II and tier-III cities in the State during the Investors Meet in Bengaluru so that they opt for smaller cities instead of just focussing on Bengaluru.
Mr. Nagesh said an awareness programme on the Investors Meet to be held in Bengaluru, would be held on Saturday at Hotel Dennisons in Hubballi at 11 a.m. and district-in-charge Minister Vinay Kulkarni would inaugurate it.