Bengaluru : Highlighting Karnataka’s investment potential, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said the state is the fourth largest and one of the fastest growing ones in India, growing at 9.6 per cent, besides attracting FDI of USD 37.67 billion during April 2000 to March 2019.

He stressed the need for establishing a positive relationship between growth and jobs to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
“This is Karnatakas moment and the State stands at a crucial moment in its history with an unprecedented opportunity for transformation,” Yediyurappa said.

“I look forward to seeing Karnataka becoming even more active on the global stage where our utmost priority will be to establish a positive relationship between growth and jobs to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth,” he said.

The Chief Minister was addressing the Times Network India Economic Conclave 2019-South chapter here.

Yediyurappa said the state has taken concrete steps and continues to design policies, schemes in alignment with the grand vision for Karnataka “a global manufacturing and technology leader and a pioneer in driving sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.”

Karnataka has been attracting a global audience with its integrated and strategic growth plans that offer immense investment potential across different sectors, he said.

Pointing out that the state has attracted FDI of USD 37.67 billion during the period April 2000 to March 2019, constituting 9 per cent of the all India FDI, the Chief Minister said Karnataka was spearheading the growth of Indian industry and the largest exporter of services and fourth largest exporter of merchandise.

Karnataka has the advantage of cost competitiveness and favourable demographic dividend which enables it to make products for the World, he added.

“Today we have more than 20 policies for diverse sectors. We have recently announced the Electrical Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 2017, the first state to do so with a vision to make Karnataka as the EV capital of India,” he added.

According to him, Karnataka is one of the top five R&D ecosystems of the world and also the second-best ecosystem for start-ups.

United Nations has ranked Bengaluru as the fourth largest technology cluster in the world, after Silicon Valley, Boston and London.

“The State is in the forefront of cutting-edge technology such as block chain, additive manufacturing, 3D printing, robotics, nano-technology, and genetic engineering.

India today has more than 1,500 Global In-house Centres (GICs) and collectively employs roughly 10 lakh people,” he said.