Karnataka govt spent Rs 75 crore to conduct GIM 2022

BENGALURU: The government revealed that it spent a staggering Rs 75 crore in organizing ‘Invest Karnataka 2022’, its three-day flagship event aimed at attracting business and industrial investments to Karnataka. The disclosure drew derision and condemnation from the opposition, especially Congress.
Revealing details of expenses incurred in organising the event, popularly known as the Global Investors Meet (GIM), from November 2 to 4 in Bengaluru, industries minister Murugesh Nirani told the legislative council on Tuesday that much of the expenditure was spent in creation of event-related infrastructure.
He said the event helped attract investment proposals worth Rs 9.8 lakh crore. Details tabled by the minister in reply to a question from Congress members, showed that Rs 50.7 crore was spent on ‘event infrastructure and consultancy charges’, the highest expense head.
The next biggest chunk was Rs 3.3 crore for roadshows overseas besides another Rs 1.3 crore on domestic roadshows. The minister’s disclosure on expenditure triggered a heated debate in the upper house, with opposition leaders pointing out that similar expenditure was incurred during previous editions of GIMs but the state had little to show in return.
Congress member UB Venkatesh said, “In 2010, when the first global event was held, the government had spent more than Rs 30 crore for similar activities and claimed to have signed MoUs worth Rs 3.9 lakh crore. But the realization rate of these proposals was a mere 14%.”
Opposition leader BK Hariprasad lambasted the government for spending such massive amounts on publicity alone for the event. He said the money could have been used for some other welfare schemes which would have benefited citizens.
“It seems as if the government marketed only the energy sector while other sectors such as automobiles, agriculture, and allied sectors failed to evince any interest in attracting investment proposals,” said Manjunath Bhandari of Congress.
However, Nirani claimed not even a single rupee of taxpayers’ money was spent on “any publicity activities”. “Previously, we spent Rs 32 crore (2010) and Rs 33 crore (2012) on organizing the GIM events,” he said. “All the expenses were met by bank interest on deposits made by industries towards land acquisition. Subsequently, Congress government spent Rs 40 crore in 2016.”