K'taka plans hardware park in Kolar, Tumkur

The Karnataka government plans to set up electronics hardware parks in Kolar and Tumkur respectively.

Katta Subramanya Naidu, Karnataka minister for information technology and biotechnology has promised this to industry bodies led by Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Kassia.

He said, in addition to the land the industry bodies have asked for incentives in the form of land on a long lease of 30 years, instead of outright purchase which would be an expensive proposition to set up manufacturing unit at the time of economic crisis and five year tax holiday.

“Industry bodies have been told to come up with concrete proposals for the government to spell out our stand,” he added. For setting up the hardware park in Kolar and Tumkur, the government has already has land at its disposal. In Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) we plan to utilise land owned by Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML), which is closed for the last few years. “In Tumkur, the government has land at many places, we will take a call once we get applications from IT companies,” Naidu said.

The Union minister of state for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa who represents Kolar has expressed interest and has asked the state government to facilitate land and other infrastructure facilities for attracting investments.

“The proposals for Kolar will be given final shape after talks with Muniyappa,” said Naidu. The government early this year had cleared setting up a hardware park in Bangalore near Devanahalli on 300 acres.