Adani group to invest Rs.21,000 crore in Karnataka

The Adani group would invest about Rs.21,000 crore in Karnataka to expand its power station, and set up a solar project for renewable energy and a sea port on the state's coast, group founder Gautam Adani said on Wednesday.

"We are setting up two 800 Mega Watt (MW) plants at our Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. station at Rs.11,500 crore, and a 1,000 MW solar power project at Rs.7,000 crore and a greenfield seaport at Tadadi at Rs.2,000 crore on the coast," Adani said at the state's global investors meet (GIM) here.

Tadadi is in Uttara Kannada district of the state, about 500 km from Bengaluru.

The $17.5-billion Ahmedabad-based conglomerate had bought the 1,200 MW Udupi thermal project from Lanco group at Rs.6,300 crore in April 2015.

The power plant is located near the temple town of Udupi in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, about 400 km from Bengaluru.

"As the Udupi plants run on imported coal, we are setting up a captive dredge at the New Mangalore Port Trust at Rs.500 crore to handle about 10 million tonnes of coal per annum. The jetty will create 600 jobs," Adani asserted.

The additional investment in the power project will make it the largest independent power producer in the southern state and provide energy to about 20 million homes when 1,600 MW will be added to the grid.

The group also expanded its edible oil processing capacity to become its largest producer in the state.

Barring Adani's investment, no announcements were made on signing agreements on the first day of the three-day jamboree 'Invest Karnataka 2016' in the Bangalore Palace ground.

The state government, however, claimed that it has lined up investment proposals and infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.