Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
K
arnataka inks MoU with Tata Group for investments of Rs.2,300 Crore
The Government of Karnataka and Tata Group companies of Air India and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) on Monday for an investment of Rs. 2,300 Crore which is estimated to create about 1,650 direct employments.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Siddaramaiah and Large and Medium Industries Minister,MB Patil at Vidhana Soudha.
As per the MoU, Tata Group will set up various manufacturing and R&D facilities in the state.
S.Selvakumar,Principal Secretary,Industries Department and Nipun Agrawal,Chief Commercial Officer of Air India and Sukaran Singh,CEO of TASL exchanged the MoU.
Speaking on the occasion,Minister MB Patil said that Air India plans to establish an Airframe Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Bengaluru International Airport with an investment plan of Rs. 1,300 Crore which is likely to employ 1,200 people.
This will be first of its kind facility in India and is claimed to further open doors for full scale MRO.
Air India will also create Aviation Hub at Bengaluru Airport thus increasing the economic activity and air traffic through Bengaluru,he added.
Tata Advanced Systems Limited has planned for investment of about Rs.1,000 Crore across 3 projects – Aircraft Conversion (passenger to freighter),Gun Manufacturing facility and Research and Development in A&D sector.
All these projects are first of its kind in India and will be located at Bengaluru International Airport and Kolara and will further strengthen the A&D ecosystem of Karnataka.
Saying such projects require streamlined support from the government in terms of clearances,approvals and interventions,Patil assured support in resolving any challenges pertaining to the grounding of the projects.
Chief Secretary to Government,Rajneesh Goyal, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister,LK Ateeq, Commissioner of Industries Department,Gunjan Krishna,Air India top officials,Manan Chauhan, Karthikeya Bhat,Atul Shukla,TASL top officials Guru Dattatreya,Arjun Maine,Bangalore International Airport Managing Director,Hari Marar,COO Satyaki Raghunath, and CFO Bhaskar Ravindra were present.
