Karnataka’s first exclusive Women’s Entrepreneurs Park to come up in Kalaburagi district

The State’s first exclusive Women’s Entrepreneurs Parkis coming up on 50 acres in the Nandur-Kesaratagi Industrial Area on the outskirts of the city.

Joint Director of the Industries Department Doddabasavayya, the man behind the project and who did all the spadework for the project, told The Hindu that the 50-acre land has been identified and demarcated for the proposed Women’s Entrepreneur Park in the industrial area.

The force behind the proposal was the phenomenal success achieved by a similar park in Hyderabad established by women entrepreneurs under the banner Association of Lady Entrepreneurs Park in Andhra Pradesh-India (ALEAP-India) in 1994, which provided the leeway for women entrepreneurs to exhibit their talent and provided gainful employment to mostly women employees. Mr. Doddabasavayya said that a similar association called Kalaburagi Ladies Association Manufacturers Park (K-LAMP) has been established here. K-LAMP will be the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the project. Already 200 women entrepreneurs have registered as members, he added.

To provide the required infrastructure at the proposed park, the Union government had extended a one-time grant of Rs. 8 crore under the Micro Small Entrepreneurs Cluster Development Programme and the State government had released Rs. 2 crore.

The Union and the State governments later extended another grant of Rs. 15 crore for the common facility centres, incubation centre and others inside the park for the benefit of the women entrepreneurs.

Besides, the Karnataka State Finance Corporation has also decided to extended loan facilities—maximum of Rs. 50 lakh — to each of the women entrepreneurs at a low interest rate of 4 per cent. The State government has also extended 5 per cent subsidy in the interest of the loans availed from nationalised and other banks by the entrepreneurs.

Mr. Doddabasavayya said that 50x100 ft size plots will be developed and provided to each of the 200 to 250 women entrepreneurs in the park to establish their units.

Each unit will be a three floor building. While one floor will be used by the woman entrepreneur for establishing her industry, the other two floors should be given on rent and the amount received as rent should be directly paid to the bank or the financial agencies as loan repayment.

Mr. Doddabasavayya said that none of the plots allotted to the women entrepreneurs will be allowed to be used for residential purpose. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Authority has been entrusted with responsibility of creating the basic infrastructure, including cement road, drains, underground electricity and telephone cables, drinking water and electricity to the proposed park.