Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and industrialist Ratan Tata at the inauguration of Invest Karnataka 2016. (Press Trust of India photo)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expects Karnataka to surpass the national growth rate, saying it has the potential to grow at least 2-3 per cent ahead of India's GDP.
Speaking after inaugurating the global investors' meet 'Invest Karnataka-2016', Mr Jaitley said: "... given its natural advantage, first-grade human resource and the natural technology inclination of entrepreneurs... Karnataka has to grow at least 2-3 per cent ahead of India's GDP."
Complementing the state government for organising the meet, he said, "Karnataka has the capacity, and I think it is that capacity which we have to fully realise."
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar, among others, attended the meet.
Acknowledging that Karnataka is the leader as far as education is concerned, the finance minister said the state will continue to produce best human resource in India.
"One of the best things that happened to Karnataka over the last 2-3 decades was that even at the age of regulated economy, some wisdom dawned on this country and we decided to leave the IT sector alone. Since we left the IT sector alone free from any interference of the government, they prospered. They became in fact a face of India s growth potential," Mr Jaitley added.
With natural innovation, start-ups growing in the state, and a lot more potential in aerospace, the state should look at large manufacturing investment potential, he suggested.
"Manufacturing is where jobs are... if we are able to concentrate on this with natural advantage of R&D centres worldwide coming into the state, I think we can exploit all these potential and really convert Karnataka into a destination of investment of economic activity of growth," Mr Jaitley added.
"I think every rupee that goes into Karnataka, investment goes into India's growth..."
Stating that nobody could have expected China to grow indefinitely at a double digit growth rate, Mr Jaitley said China's "slowdown itself doesn't directly impact us, except for some indirect consequences.
"Under these circumstances when comparable economies are struggling we have an important and powerful opportunity in front of us in order to make sure that our own domestic economic systems are strengthened."
"In this strengthening we have been able to maintain a macroeconomic situation which is far more favourable than it had been in the past and this is what makes India the fastest growing economy in the world," the minister added.
Mr Jaitley further said that global investors are looking at India and "It is important for India to respond and respond in one voice". We can never allow our federalism or our democracy to become an obstacle in the process, he said.
The Finance Minister further said that merely organising investor meets will not get states the required investments.
"States which have a consistent track record of a stable administration, a good governance, clean administration, stable politics, stable policies, easy availability of land, natural resources, easier prospects of doing business... it is those states which will then become the primary destinations as far as the investments are concerned," he said.
Appreciating Karnataka for innovating with time, Mr Jaitley said it has kept the state at the centre stage of India's development.
Referring to cooperative federalism, he said governance is a shared responsibility of the Centre and the states, while the ultimate objective of the shared sovereignty is how "we empower people, how we make India grow faster and how we make sure that rates of poverty get depleted very fast".
"India is a case where the Centre and states have to compete with each other, then cooperate with each other, in order to make sure that the cooperative federalism brings out a model of economic governance in the country," he said.
Mr Jaitley said there is no other cure for depletion of poverty and its final elimination other than making India grow.
"It is only when India grows faster that we are going to pull out a large number of people out of the poverty levels," he said.