Let us look beyond IT for future growth

Let us look beyond IT for future growth
Mahendra Jain, commerce & industry secretary, Karnataka govt
THe Times of India


Bangalore, in the past few years, has been a destination for many because of its good climate, talent pool and political atmosphere. Infrastructure growth, however, has not kept pace with that of the city. There is a misconception that nothing much is being done to address Bangalore’s issues. It is not true. A lot of work is under way to tackle these issues and many ambitious projects are under different stages of implementation.
One of the prescriptions is to disperse the growth of Bangalore. There has been a move to relocate industry to peripheral areas. However, the industry needs ready-touse infrastructure and looks for comfort with which it can do business.
We probably missed out on some of the opportunities in recent times. When we got land for Devanahalli airport, we should have acquired another 15,000 acres for land development. This would have allowed us to create infrastructure for the industry.
We also need to look at other sectors like retail, garment and hospitality for future growth. There is a need to create talent pool in these sectors, and we can fuel future growth by using the PPP.