'Karnataka has been pioneer in Aero Space sector': Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that his state has been a pioneer in the Aero Space sector, noting that India's first aircraft factory had been established in Bangalore.

"Karnataka is a progressive state with knowledge-based and manufacturing industries. Karnataka has a remarkable history of achieving consistently high rates of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth for a long period of time. Karnataka has been a pioneer in the Aero Space sector. India's first Aircraft factory- Hindustan Aircraft Limited- was established here in 1940 and later after nationalisation came to be renamed as Hindustan Aeronautical Limited," said Siddaramaiah, at the inauguration ceremony of the 'Aero India 2015'.

"The HAL heralded the aero-space activities in Bengaluru. Bengaluru is the aero space hub of India, having more than 62 percent of the country's investment in the sector. The Government of Karnataka has announced the country's first Aero-space policy 2013-23 for overall development of the sector," he added.

Stating that the United Nations has ranked the city fourth in the world as far as technological innovation is concerned, Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka aims to become a power surplus state by 2017.

"The United Nations has ranked Bengaluru as fourth in the world as a global hub of technological innovation. Karnataka holds all the leading IT companies including Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle, Dell, IPM, Microsoft and Cognizant. Karnataka offers a plethora of investment," he said.

"The state has set a goal to become power surplus state by 2017 with good rail and air connectivity," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the Aero India 2015 at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in the city. Defence Ministers or officials of equivalent ranks of many nations, including the US, Russia, Israel and Germany attended the event, with Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh also present.