By IANS,
Bangalore : The second edition of the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM 2012) got underway Thursday amid fanfare to promote the state as a premier investment destination in diverse sectors of the economy across the state.
Being held for the first time at the sprawling Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on the city’s outskirts, the two-day biennial event attracted about 5,000 delegates from across the country and overseas.
Presence of doyens of the Indian industry and global majors and high-profile delegations from Japan, Mexico and Bavaria in Germany at the grand inaugural ceremony was a great relief to the state government, which has been pulling all stops to convince investors that Karnataka is one state with many opportunities to explore.
Among the captains of the industry who graced the occasion and spoke were Infosys chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumara Managalam Birla, Tata Steel vice-chairman B. Muthuraman, ONGC chairman Sudhir Vasudeva, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chief executive K. Venkataramanan, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, and Bharat Forge chairman B.N. Kalyani.
From overseas, Japanese vice-minister of economy, trade and industry Keiro Kitagami, Bavaria’s deputy prime minister Martin Zeil, General Electric (GE) India chief executive John Flannery and General Motors (GM) managing director Lowell Paddock were present.
The state government had set an ambitious target of attracting a whopping Rs.six trillion (Rs.6 lakh crore) investments as against Rs.3.92 trillion (Rs.3.92 lakh crore) investments committed in the first edition of GIM 2010, though in reality only Rs.1.27 trillion (Rs.1.27 lakh crore) materialised.
While Minister for Tourism Subodh Kant Sahai could make it to the event an hour behind schedule, the absence of other two central ministers — M. Veerappa Moily (corporate affairs) and Virbhadra Singh (micro, small and medium enterprises) — was conspicuous.
As part of the mega-event, the state government has also organised a three-day expo at the venue to showcase the state, its human and natural resources, pro-active industrial policies, investor-friendly incentives, land bank and infrastructure for attracting investments from global and domestic firms.