Bihar, once considered a BIMARU state, has achieved high growth rates of 13.1 per cent in financial year 2011-12 whereas, Karnataka has failed to touch India's GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent. Industry captains share their views on why Karnataka's growth rate slowed down last fiscal on the eve of the Global Investors’ Meet - GIM 2012, which is a three-day affair from June 6-8, Sangeetha Chenappa reports.
Ashok Soota, CMD, Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt Ltd
The mess in the Karnataka Government over the last two years is unbelievable and it has acquired one of the worst reputations in the country for corruption because of the mining scam. The need of the hour is for Karnataka to diversify beyond the IT sector and reduce its dependence on IT revenue. However, the silver lining on the cloud is that Bengaluru is noted as one of the top 10 cities in the world for entrepreneurial and start-up activity which is very creditable."
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon
For the last two years the government has not functioned as a true govt — there has been no implementation of projects, no investments in infrastructure projects. We all know there is an acute shortage of water and power in the State. While it is difficult to get govt to approve allocation of any resources, we can't pin the blame solely on the ministers. The bureaucracy is to blame too. They have not taken decisions and there isn't enough allocation for new projects. Overall, Karnataka is doing much better than other states.
V. Ravichandar, Chairman, Feedback Consulting
Bihar has shown a very high growth rate because it had an abysmally low base. However since it was backed by the right leadership it has grown significantly. In comparison, the overarching reason for Karnataka's sluggish growth is clearly because of lack of continuity in leadership, and the lack of a clear vision and strategy as leadership continues to remain insecure. The mining scam and the freeze on mining thereafter contributed to the slow growth rates.
Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education
Karnataka's growth rate has been sluggish because for the last 10 years, ever since the fall of the Krishna govt there is no grand plan, design or strategy for the State. Jayalalitha on the other hand has a grand 10 year plan for Tamil Nadu, spanning areas like infrastructure, investments, quality of life, per capita income etc. Karnataka came out with Vision 20:20, which is just a statement of good intentions with no deep well thought out strategy or plan to it.