K’taka minister Ashwath Narayan meets Union ministers, discusses state proposals

PTI, Nov 3, 2021, 8:00 AM IST

New Delhi: Karnataka IT Minister C N Ashwath Narayan on Tuesday met five Union ministers and discussed various state proposals.

He also invited Union Minister for IT Ashwini Vaishnaw to the Bengaluru Tech Summit to be held on November 17.

In the meeting, the state minister discussed setting up a PLI (production linked incentive) in a hybrid model by Global Capability Centers (GCC) in emerging clusters beyond Bengaluru across Karnataka.

”Narayan suggested having supportive policies on hybrid work models to create new opportunities and competitive advantage for the country/state and to allow Work From Home for SEZs,” an official statement said.

He also discussed the need to rationalize Transfer Pricing for Contract Manufacturing Companies to make India competitive on par with the rest of the world.

The state IT minister also said there was a need to identify future tech areas and offer a special transfer pricing regime for these tech sectors for the next 10 years. He also felt additional special incentives can be given for the next 10 years in notified locations. He also suggested that the Centre may consider giving a matching grant to the R&D Infrastructure Program of the state to create and strengthen the testing and prototyping infrastructure.

Narayan also apprised the central minister that the state government had already made this offering under the Engineering R&D Policy 2021 wherein the state would provide a grant of up to Rs 50 crore, in three different locations ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ Urban District. He also expressed the need to set up Talent Development Lab Centres and Entrepreneurship Development Centres in Emerging Technology Clusters in multiple locations in a PPP model in three to four locations to train and upskill in VLSI, Embedded technologies, Cloud, Blockchain, among others.

In a separate meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Narayan made a plea to hand over 750 acres of land that exists adjacent to the National Highway in Belagavi to set up an IT park. In a meeting with Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Pashupati Paras, the state minister discussed the food processing unit being set up in Ramanagara under the PPP model.

During his meeting with Union Minister for Higher Education Dharmendra Pradhan, Karnataka apprised him of the progress made in the implementation of the National Education Policy.

Meanwhile, he also made a request to provide more funds for higher education. He also met the Union Minister for Panchayatraj Giriraj Singh as well as Arun Singh, in charge of BJP affairs for Karnataka.