Suggestions poured in from various stakeholders, academics and professionals on attracting investors and the need for steps to improving ease of doing business during the preliminary meeting on “Invest Karnataka, Hubballi” here on Monday.
During the interaction, the participants felt that there was a need for better branding and marketing of the region and tier-2 cities apart from making competitive offers and ensuring better infrastructure development.
Putting forward his suggestions, Vice-Chancellor of KLE Technological University (KLETU) Ashok Shettar said that while land and infrastructure were the basic criteria, what was also important was how best land is developed to suit the requirements of the investors and also how competitive the offers and concessions extended by the State government were.
Prof. Ashok Shettar said that policy intervention in the form of additional benefits through some bold initiatives was required to attract investors to the region. “This apart, measures such as 21-day clearance, as it has been done in Gujarat, and setting up of regional authorities empowered by law and adequate preparedness while welcoming investors are required. Steps towards ease of doing business will go a long way in attracting investments,” he said.
President of KASSIA R. Raju stressed the need for steps to ensure ease of doing business through a single window system to give clearances under one roof. Although investors were interested in coming to the State, getting clearances from various departments had become a cumbersome process, he said and emphasised on the need for a single window system.
Already, delegations of entrepreneurs and industrialists from different countries, including Japan, Korea, the U.S., had visited the industrial estates in Hubballi-Dharwad and were keen on investing, he said.
A need for developing the Belekere Port, development of industrial estates, making land available easily, lesser tax rate in rural areas, need for reviving the Maize Technology Park at Ranebennur, additional tax benefits for IT-enabled services, need for promoting those who had already invested were some of the other suggestions that came from participants during the interaction.
Responding to the suggestions, Principal Secretary of Department of Industries and Commerce Gaurav Gupta clarified that there was no dearth of land for industries in the region and land had also been kept aside at Kanagala near Nippani for industries.
Participating in the interaction, MLC Srinivas Mane emphasised the need for resolving long-pending issues of the local industrialists, which, he said, would result in further investment.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi and Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar asked the local industrialists to give them leads so that they could personally meet and invite investors to the meet. President of KCCI Mahendra Ladhad, Secretary of KASSIA Rajgopal, president of TiE Hubballi Sashidhar Shettar and several others put forward their suggestions, while some even aired their grievances.
