Investment in Karnataka: Investing on resources, effort and implementation

While Karnataka may be a 'state of immense opportunity and potential', it is also a 'state of intense bottlenecks and agonizing bureaucratic delays'. Does this account for the low conversion of promised intent into actual investment?

As elections approach in Karnataka, the BJP government in the state is keen to showcase any potential good news as a positive achievement. The recently held Global Investors Meet - Invest Karnataka 2022 is a case in point. At the valedictory event of the Summit, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asserted that 'What Karnataka thinks today, India does tomorrow!' Describing his government as investment friendly and forward looking, he hailed the MoUs amounting to a total of Rs 10 lakh crore as evidence of the same.

While hailing the achievements at the Summit, the Chief Minister was quick to concede that in previous such events, the performance did not match the promise. The actual investment varied across the years from 8 per cent to a mere 15 per cent. He promised no repetition of this trend this time around.

The Chief Minister was well aware that the cynicism about the actual quantum of investment in previous years could well cloud public perception of the numbers touted this year around. MoUs represent pious intentions and glorious promises, a cheque with an amount, the sender as well as the receiver with neither a date nor a signature!

The media is full of reports of how Karnataka in general and Bengaluru represent in important ways a lost opportunity. While it may be a 'state of immense opportunity and potential', it is also a 'state of intense bottlenecks and agonizing bureaucratic delays'. Does this account for the low conversion of promised intent into actual investment? Four key bottlenecks need to be addressed in this context.

Firstly, does the state government enjoy the stability and focus to implement a strategy plan to attract investment? In the last three decades (1992-2022), the state has seen fifteen Chief Ministers (twelve different individuals) which means an average of a Chief Minister every two years. In this period, only two Chief Ministers completed a full term in office.

Additionally, in the six state assembly elections held in these three decades, a ruling party has never secured a majority in the next election. Lokniti-CSDS data reveals that there has always been a lukewarm reaction to the level of satisfaction with the government of the day. This is both the cause and consequence of the inability of state governments to prioritize their development strategies and make the state truly investor friendly.

Secondly, ministries in Karnataka have invariably depended on the Chief Minister (and at time the Industry Minister) to pitch for greater investment in the state and create a conducive climate for attracting greater inflow of funds.

While parliamentary systems are supposed to function on the spirit of collective responsibility, in reality each minister appears busy protecting and promoting their own small political constituency. One witnesses little effort at a collective push across ministers and ministries to work in tandem. Often the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing! Added to this is the increasingly visible protest at the levels of corruption in the government. This is irrespective of which party is in power. Sometimes one wonders whether investment comes to the state because of the government or in spite of the government!

Thirdly, the legendary infrastructure bottlenecks in Bengaluru city and the hesitation to aggressively pitch the case of Tier II and Tier III cities has also been a major challenge. While there have been grandiose plans made and partly implemented, there has been little effort to sustain and take logically forward these initiatives to the next stage. Building infrastructural capacities appears to take into account the needs of yesterday rather than the requirements of day after tomorrow. As a result, as plans are executed and completed, they hopelessly fall short of current and future requirements.

The unplanned growth of urban areas, the limited focus on basic infrastructural needs with a rising urban population, limited access to public transport are all well documented challenges. The political will and bureaucratic effort to find a feasible and workable solution to these challenges is clearly lacking. The priorities clearly lie elsewhere and linked to the first two points elaborated above.

Finally, the blame game across key stakeholders is all too visible. The private sector blames the government for not doing enough, the government blames the private sector for focusing on a very limited set of priorities, the urban and educated class among citizens points figures at government but fails to assert their right as voters, everyone grumbles about corruption but happy to contribute to the same to get their job done... the list can go on.

While water logging that is often seen during a torrential rain is often on account of layouts, apartment complexes and gated communities built by flouting norms and not observing mandated rules, there is little alertness demonstrated by the citizens to check such practices. When one is reactive rather than proactive, the impact is clearly seen in the bottlenecks that we face.

One returns to what Chief Minister Bommai said in his valedictory speech. While he expressed satisfaction on the MoUs, he also sounded a word of caution that the work to translate these MoUs into reality needs to begin in right earnest. Would the current government that will face an election very soon have the time, energy and inclination to focus on the same? Urban voters express anguish about the state of infrastructure. Will the urban voter shrug off the lethargy and disinterest and hold different parties to account? Do we see this as our collective problem that needs a collective solution or would we continue to moan in splendid isolation and allow the civic problems to remain the way they are?

(Dr. Sandeep Shastri is the Vice Chancellor of Jagran Lakecity University and a keen observer of Karnataka politics for four decades)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.