The Government of Karnataka, in association with the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion) of the Central Government and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), had organised a ‘Make in India’ Conference on the 13th & 14th of February 2017 at Bengaluru. Earlier on, the state had successfully hosted and conducted an “Invest Karnataka 2016 Global Investors Meet” last year, during February 2016. A report:
Karnataka is labelled as one of the most progressive and industrious states in India. Being a globally renowned knowledge hub, it is home to the largest number of R&D Centers, technical & medical institutions, and boasts the highest number of start-ups in Asia. It’s salubrious climate, cosmopolitan culture, investor friendly ecosystem and highly responsive administration makes Karnataka one of the most preferred investment destinations globally.
The Make in India – Karnataka conference was successfully organised with a thrust on re-energizing industry and boosting the manufacturing sector. The conference, which gave a special focus to encouraging manufacturing start-ups, saw an overwhelming participation of more than 5000 delegates from India and abroad. The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took this opportunity to announce various plans for encouraging manufacturing start-ups and also anounced the institution of a new manufacturing excellence award.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, in his inaugural address, emphasized that manufacturing is where the future lies, a domain where job creation and mass employment will take place. He commended Karnataka for playing a proactive participation role in actually making GST a reality. Several other prominent leaders from the Union Government and State Government, including Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, MJ Akbar, RV Deshpande, DK Shivakumar, Priyank Kharge, Ramesh Kumar, Basavaraj Rayareddy were present at the event.
Industry captains including Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and MD of Biocon Ltd; Vikram Kirloskar, Chairman and MD of Kirloskar Systems Limited; Baba Kalyani, Chief MD of Bharat Forge, Ms. Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice Chairman of the Apollo Group; JD Giri, Director of Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd; and Wilson Y R, President of Himatsingka Seide Ltd, shared their perspective on the evolving nature of manufacturing and participated in the focus sector sessions held during the two day conference. The Foundation stone laying ceremony for a Machine Tools Park in Tumakuru was also held during the Inaugural ceremony of the ‘Make In India – Karnataka’ Conference and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Karnataka and the Government of India for setting up an ‘Integrated Machine Tools Industrial Park’ at Vasanthanarasapura in Tumakuru district. Three coffee table books – ‘Make in Karnataka’ in association with Yes bank Express Group and Raintree Media were released.
A ‘Special thanks’ to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India for partnering with Karnataka in this event, Deshpande said at the press conference. He also thanked all the foreign delegates, investors, invitees, speakers, and moderators for extending their support and participating in large numbers. He added, “I am confident that Karnataka’s inherent strengths coupled with close Government-Industry partnership will lead India’s manufacturing excellence, heralding the 4th industrial revolution.
Over 500 B2B meetings were held across different focus sectors with International/ National Business houses and Corporations. More than 50 World class companies showcased their manufacturing prowess at the Exhibition Centre of the Make In India – Karnataka Conference. A total of 10 sessions, one of them on ‘Make in India’ and 9 focus sector sessions were held during the two- day conference. The 10 focus sector sessions held at the event were:
- Make in India
- Aerospace and Defence
- Bio Technology and Pharmaceuticals
- Textiles, Apparel and Leather
- Heavy Engineering and Machine Tools
- Electronics and Electricals
- Agriand Food processing
- Auto and Auto Components
- Manufacturing start-ups
- Plastics and Chemicals
incidentally, the two-day ‘Make in India – Karnataka’ conference coincided with Asia’s largest aerospace expo, Aero-India 2017.