Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw on Tuesday suggested that the government should focus on developing energy infrastructure in the state. Addressing a press conference, she said that a lot of industries evinced interest in setting up shop here, while many existing ones wanted to expand their base. “If you (the state government) want more industries, you have to improve the basic infrastructure, particularly the energy sector. The moment you improve the energy infrastructure, entire scenario will change,” she said.
Ms Shaw’s observations came after Commerce and Industries Principal Secretary M.N. Vidyashankar held discussion with her. But, Ms Shaw observed, state is an important destination for investment. “A meet such as GIM helps to showcase this huge ecosystem that we have very successfully created in Karnataka. The state has been a very attractive destination in many sectors and one of the very important focus areas this time are energy and infrastructure. These are the two big needs of the state. We are in urgent need of both energy and advanced infrastructure,” she said.
IIIT director Prof S. Sadagopan said, “The businesses are run or investments attracted on feel-good factors. The government should retain the feel-good factor created through the GIM.” Mr Vidyashankar said that the emphasis is on the energy and infrastructure sectors. “Close to 32-33% of all investments during GIM 2012 are from important sectors like energy, infrastructure, tourism, healthcare among others,” he said. “GIM 2010 had a total value participation of Rs 3.89 lakh crore and the hit rate was close to around 62-63 per cent, which is very high when compared to the conversion rate of other states in the country after similar meets,” he said.