Mangaluru among 3 tier-2 cities to spearhead ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiative

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission expects over 150 companies to set up shop in the coastal city in the next five years

About 40 persons attended the KDEM meeting in Mangaluru on September 18, 2021 while around 70 participated online.

 

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) Chairman B.V. Naidu said three clusters – Mangaluru, Mysuru and Hubballi – will spearhead the ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiative by attracting Global Capability Centres (GCCs) to establish their offices and operate from these cities.

Addressing the KDEM Mangaluru Cluster Policy Talk event attended by about 40 people in person in Mangaluru and about 70 online, he said, “Mangaluru is being projected as a fintech hub. The vision for Mangaluru includes three large, 30 medium, and 120 mid-size companies to be added in the next five years.”

Additional Chief Secretary, IT & BT and Industries and Commerce departments, E.V. Ramana Reddy said KEDM’s Beyond Bengaluru initiative is capable of ushering dividends from IT, ITES and Business Process Management (BPM) sectors along with employment creation in Tier 2 cities of Karnataka. With accessibility to a port, rail lines and an airport, Mangaluru offers a unique selling proposition in Karnataka. Collaboration between academia and industry would trigger growth in the cluster, and make it the second largest among IT&BT hubs in Karnataka.

Sanjeev Gupta, MD and CEO, of Lahari presented the Policy Pack document of the Karnataka government, consisting of eight core policies, including for start-up, IT, ER&D, ESDM, AVGC and skill development. The incentives under each of these policies were designed to facilitate the needs of industries and to bring down their operational costs.

The event was organised by KDEM Mangaluru cluster industry anchors Gaurav Hegde, Vice Chairman of CII Mangaluru; Praveen Kumar Kalbavi, MD & CEO of Novigo Solutions; Prashant Shenoy, Director, Mangalore Infotech Solutions; and Johnson Tellis, Director, Sahyadri Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and CEO, TCE; with the objective of having a policy orientation session among entrepreneurs of the region with the Department of IT, BT & ST.

 

IT & BT Department Director Meena Nagaraj, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Issac Vas and CII Mangaluru Chairman Jeevan Saldanha were among the participants.