Challenge is to spread prosperity around Karnataka

The Global Investors Meet is over. There is mention of hundreds of agreements and over lakhs of crores of investment flowing in. There has been considerable build up to the GIM event.

Given the many MoUs signed, it is a sign that the ministers and bureaucrats must have burned the midnight oil and more. One wishes that the event branding and roll out avoided the ‘sarkari’ feel about it like the DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) ads of old. It could have been more contemporary.

One also wishes there were more credible claims. Claiming an energy advantage in the current deficit situation will not inspire confidence among discerning investors. 

One has a sense of deja vu about such an event. Our past record has been dismal. There are announcements running into thousands of crores that never see the light of day. If Karnataka has to be an attractive investment destination, it needs to have a year-round appeal based on sound fundamentals - this implies that we get our act together on the governance mechanisms as well as the hard and soft infrastructure. Without that, one fears the only appeal might be access to land banks and concessions offered by the state.

So how does one attempt building a credible value proposition for investors that helps in creating more jobs? The government should focus on the basic infrastructure across the state with a focus on high speed road and rail connectivity. They should offer an enabling policy environment to let regional development prosper and inclusive growth to happen. Private enterprise will use the infrastructure and policies to find suitable places for business.

This requires thinking holistically about regional development encompassing live and work clusters and not just industrial belts in isolation. Unless quality of life indicators get the same attention as industrial parks the overall development across the state will remain a pipe dream. 

Currently, we have one ‘mountain’ in Bangalore, a not so pretty ‘mountain’ in Bellary, a reasonable hill in Mangalore, a sleepy mound in Mysore, and ragged patches in Gulbarga, Dharwad, Bidar etc. The challenge is to spread the prosperity around the state. This GIM seems to encourage two ‘mountains’ in Bellary and Bangalore. It needed and could have been more innovative to enable a series of ‘hills’ across the State.

The writer is a civic analyst and the chairman, Feedback Consulting