Sustainable Energy, Upskilling & Building Cities Beyond Bangalore To ensure a Competitive and Sustainable Karnataka @100: Mr Kamal Bali
Bengaluru, 8th March 2024: “The world is shifting at a very fast pace. The future is highly unpredictable. We need to remain on top of our game. We are all present here in the right place at the right time with the right people when it comes to shaping the future of India and Karnataka is ready to transform the future”, said Mr Kamal Bali, Chairman, CII Southern Region & President & Managing Director, Volvo Group India in his keynote address at the CII’s Karnataka State Annual Meeting 2024 with the theme “Towards a competitive and sustainable Karnataka @100 : Growth, Inclusiveness, Globalisation, Building Trust” held here today.
“We are the poster boys, not only because India is registering the fastest economic growth but because of the number of other things that we have done. India made things happen. The four salient points that I feel helped India are the structural reforms, second is the digital transformation with nearly 46% of all fintech transactions in the world taking place in India. The third is financial inclusion followed by a focus on Infrastructure. Today, we spend 4.5% points of our GDP on Infrastructure compared to the 1.5% points spent earlier. The fourth is our commitment towards Climate Action,” added Mr Bali.
“Karnataka aims to be a $1 trillion economy by 2035 with the current size of Karnataka’s economy nearly 8.2% of the National Economy with just 5% of the population. Karnataka can overachieve this target provided we upskill close to half a million youth every year, increase the R&D spends, make the 900,000 registered MSMEs ESG compliant with access to market linkages, focus on building sustainable cities beyond Bangalore, and be the leader in clean energy as nearly 50% of Karnataka’s energy is renewable,” he pointed out.
“For a competent, sustainable Karnataka, apart from the software exports sector driving a significant amount of both export revenue and its contribution to the GDP, for the overall development of the state, especially at a grassroots level, other sectors such as skilling, education, manufacturing, tourism, healthcare, and others are needed to boost our economic development, thus mitigating any risk, which usually happens when there is an over-indexing of one particular sector,” said Mr Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan, Chairman, CII Karnataka & Managing Director, Kennametal India.
“For sustainable growth, one should also talk about sustainability. All of us have to collectively learn because it’s still emerging. We have to make sure we are ahead of the curve and also help our members because they are also our suppliers. They are part of a global value stream,”.
In his concluding remarks, Mr N Venu, Vice Chairman, CII Karnataka & Managing Director & CEO, India & South Asia, Hitachi Energy said, “India has committed that by 2070 we want to be net zero. By 2030, we have to achieve 50% of our energy requirement through renewables. It is a very big task. As a country, we need to do at least a minimum of three to four times more than what we have done till now. The energy transition businesses wherever, whether in the generation, transmission, distribution, or consumption is a huge opportunity for us. From the energy standpoint, Karnataka has been leading by being the first in the country to adopt a renewable policy”.
A fireside chat on “Inclusiveness and Leadership for Karnataka @100 followed by a CEOs’ Panel discussion “Building Trust and Resilience for Corporate Excellence” was also a part of the day long program.
