BENGALURU/HYDERABAD: A day after eyeglasses startup Lenskart inked a cope with the Telangana government to arrange a manufacturing facility within the state, Karnataka industries minister MB Patil clarified on why the deal did not come to the state.
“As custodians of taxpayers’ resources, we are committed to making prudent decisions that maximize long-term benefits for both the state and its people. Incentives by a state government are provided only to reduce the burden on investors and increase the financial viability of the project,” Patil stated in an announcement to TOI.
Patil added that “certain investors” had been asking for incentives amounting to greater than 100% of their funding. “State government cannot and should not provide incentives more than the planned investment. These practices raise concerns on the fundamental viability of such projects,” he added.
Earlier this 12 months, the Gurugram-headquartered startup introduced its plan to seek for 25 acres of land to arrange a “mega factory” inside 60 km of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.
Telangana particular chief secretary for IT & Industries Jayesh Ranjan informed TOI that Lenskart earlier signed up with Karnataka for the ability however “when they saw the policies and approach of the Telangana government, they decided to shift lock, stock, and barrel to Telangana.”
“The government of Karnataka and I, as a minister, have to walk a tightrope. I, as industries minister, have taken steps to create confidence and make several structural reforms to the state industries department. All industrialists are aware that our door is open for any of their concerns or expansion plans,” Patil stated in his publish on X on Monday.
A spokesperson from Lenskart didn’t instantly reply to TOI’s request for feedback on the minister’s publish.
During the signing with the Telangana government on Sunday, co-founder Amit Chaudhary informed TOI that Lenskart explored a number of states earlier than lastly zeroing in on Telangana.
Chaudhary stated that, on reaching out to Ranjan, a WhatsApp group was created. “In four and a half hours we had an online meeting and in another 48 hours we came down to Hyderabad and the land was identified. This was the speed of execution. I really want to highlight this because this is exactly the kind of ease of doing business which the country should represent if you want to become the next superpower,” he added.
The Karnataka government has drawn flak lately after failing to safe main manufacturing tasks, together with these from rising companies like Ola, Ather Energy, and varied semiconductor companies.
In a dialog with TOI final month, Karnataka’s IT minister Priyank Kharge mentioned the unbalanced allocation of semiconductor alternatives throughout Indian states. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi employed coercive measures to safe agreements favoring his native state Gujarat.
