Karnataka govt gives nod to 78 projects worth ₹5k crore: Officials

The Karnataka government approved 78 industrial projects worth ₹5,298.69 crore investment, with the potential of creating employment opportunities for 13,917 people, officials close to developments said.

The 138th State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC) meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr Murugesh R Nirani, Minister for large and medium scale industries.

The committee considered and approved 17 important large and medium size industrial projects with investments of more than ₹50 crore.

These projects are worth ₹3552.66 crores and are expected to create employment opportunities for 6,933 persons in the state, officials said.

At the SLSWCC meeting, 59 new projects with investments of more than ₹15 crore and less than ₹50 crore were also cleared. These projects worth ₹1,542.88 crore would generate jobs for 6,984 people in Karnataka, the officials added.

Two projects of additional investment have also been approved, which will result in an investment of ₹203.15 crore and would generate massive employment opportunities. In total, 78 investment proposals worth ₹5,298.69 crore, promising 13,197 jobs were approved in the meeting.

On Saturday, Karnataka higher education and IT/BT minister CN Ashwath Narayan rolled out three strategic initiatives aimed at promoting start-ups and innovation ecosystem in Beyond Bengaluru clusters.

The three programmes launched were Mysuru Cluster Seed Fund (MCSF), Mysuru Global Technology Centre (MGTC) and Karnataka Accelerator Network (KAN).

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai while presenting the budget 2023-24 announced these programmes to boost the IT & startup ecosystem in the state.

Put together, it is estimated that MCSF and KAN will generate around ₹200 crore and these programmes will be implemented through Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) Mysuru Cluster with a Seed Fund of ₹25 crore will be funding 70-80 startups which are expected to create over 1000 employment opportunities.