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Karnataka expects over Rs 50,000 crore investments from agri-business meet
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Tuesday, 29 November, 2011, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Bangalore
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The Karnataka government is expecting huge investments to flow in agro industries for upgrading infrastructure during the two-day Global Agri-business Meet which will be held on December 1 and 2, at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), on the Peenya-Tumkur Road.
State chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda said that the union minister for agriculture, Sharad Pawar, will inaugurate the event during which domestic and several multinational companies from the Netherlands, France, Australia and Israel were expected to participate.
"An estimated Rs 51,727 crore of private investment is likely to flow in and the food processing sector alone may attract about Rs 36,000 crore investment," he said.
Other potential areas for investment are upgradation of the existing facilities, internal support facilities for agricultural business, product branding and post-harvest facilities.
As many as 40 companies have agreed to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during the summit, which is estimated to cost the government Rs 20 crore.
Further, an estimated 40,000 acres of land is required for the proposed investments and about 10,000 acres are already available with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, Gowda informed.
"The government will offer land available with it to the investors, if required, however, huge tracts of farm lands will not be acquired for the purpose," the chief minister said.
A special purpose vehicle known as the Karnataka Agri-Business Development Board has been set-up to coordinate the agri business investments in the state, stated the chief minister.
The event, aimed at making agriculture a profitable venture for farmers, was scheduled to be held soon after the Global Investors Meet in 2010 but was postponed many times due to the political upheaval in the state.
Meanwhile, coming clear on the GM (genetically modiefied) trials, Gowda informed that investors would not be allowed to carry out tests of genetically modified crops in the name of agri-businessas and that the government was against the central government's Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill.
Farmers associations feared that the multinational companies would get the permission through the single-window system and the state government would lose control over the farm sector, if the Bill was passed, Gowda clarified.
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