Tata Group to invest Rs 2,300 crore in Karnataka, creating 1,650 jobs

Tata Group companies Air India and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) are planning to invest Rs 2,300 crore in Karnataka in projects that are expected to create employment for 1,650 people, the state government announced on Monday.

According to the MoU that has been signed, Air India will set up a facility to carry out maintenance, repairs, and overhaul of planes at the Bengaluru airport. The project entails an investment of around Rs 1,300 crore that will generate employment for 1,200 people.

Tata Advanced Systems, which makes doors for European giant Airbus's A320neo planes, will set up manufacturing and research & development facilities in the state. The company will invest in three projects near Bengaluru Airport and in Kolar, worth Rs 1,030 crore.

These include a passenger-to-freight aircraft conversion facility (Rs 420 crore), a gun manufacturing facility (Rs 310 crore) and aerospace and defence research & development in Karnataka (Rs 300 crore). These projects are expected to generate direct employment for 450 people.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and state large and medium industries minister M.B. Patil were among those present at the MoU signing ceremony in this regard in Bengaluru.

Saying such projects require streamlined support from the government in terms of clearances, approvals and interventions, Patil assured support in resolving any challenges about the grounding of the projects.

S. Selvakumar, principal secretary, Karnataka industries department, Nipun Agrawal, chief commercial officer of Air India, and Sukaran Singh, CEO of TASL, exchanged the MoU.

Chief secretary to Karnataka government Rajneesh Goyal; additional chief secretary to chief minister L.K. Atiq; commissioner of industries department Gunjan Krishna; senior Air India officials Manan Chauhan, Karthikeya Bhat, and Atul Shukla, and TASL top officials Guru Dattatreya, Arjun Maine, Bangalore International Airport managing director Hari Marar, COO Satyaki Raghunath, and CFO Bhaskar Ravindra were present on the occasion.

Tata's plan for Karnataka comes close on the heels of the group’s announcement of a Rs 15,000 crore investment in Telangana. The Tata Group has also drawn up plans to set up a semiconductor fabrication plant in Gujarat.