New Year gift to Karnataka: Centre clears Rs 1702 cr for Tumakuru industrial node

The Centre has approved funding support of Rs 1702 crore to Karnataka to develop Tumakuru node as the next big industrial hub in what top officials described as a New Year gift to the state. Vasantha Narasapura industrial hub and its extensions under development form part of the Tumakuru industrial node. The area is about a two-hour drive from Bengaluru.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, cleared funding support for the node, which is one of the three nodes under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) project. Krishnapattinam in Andhra Pradesh and Ponneri in Tamil Nadu are the other two nodes. Karnataka has been working with the Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) to take the project ahead, and had signed shareholders and the state support agreements in July 2018 to develop the Tumakuru node.

Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar wrote to the Prime Minister on Thursday thanking him for the decision, and assuring him that he will personally monitor progress of the project. “Tumakuru, being in close proximity to Bengaluru, possesses a high potential for industrial development. The region has received immense interest from several foreign and domestic investors. Tumakuru also houses a Japanese industrial township and we have recently received a request to set up a Taiwanese industrial township in the region," he said in the letter.

Once fully operational, the project will create about 88,500 jobs, of which 17,700 will be in the service sector such as retail, offices, and other commercial opportunities in the initial development phase, the minister said. “We are ready with a detailed master plan, environment clearance, and detailed project report along with cost estimates. We have appointed project monitoring consultants too. The stage is now set for initiating the bidding process. We hope to do that in about three months,” Gaurav Gupta, additional chief secretary, Industries department, told ET.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the State and the Centre as joint promoters will develop, operate, regulate and manage the Tumakuru Node in accordance with the Master Plan. The government has identified a total of 9629 acres of land in and around Vasantha Narasapura for the project.

The CBIC is one of the five special economic and industrial corridors planned by the Centre to boost industrial growth and create jobs. It will be an important corridor linking Bengaluru and Chennai covering a length of 560 km. The State government will allot land free of cost to the SPV that will create, develop, and manage the Tumakuru node. The State will contribute half its share in the form of land, and Centre will match the contribution in the form of grant to develop infrastructure, the government had said while signing the agreement.