Bangalore :

Industry body Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce  (BCIC), with the support of the state government, is organizing the first Karnataka Economic Summit beginning December 16.

Conceptualized to be a recurring annual event, the two-day summit will discuss, debate, understand and propose solutions to Karnataka’s economic issues.

“The idea is to look at solutions to the issues that are facing the state with an objective to develop thought leadership and initiatives to propel the state in to a higher growth orbit,” said H V Harish, president, BCIC.

He added that the big picture of the summit was to closely examine the state’s economic performance. “The focus is not industry alone, but industry as an element of the economy,” he said. Some of the key economic focus areas that the summit would touch upon include, governance, urbanization, infrastructure, and social infrastructure.

Global consultancy firm Deloitte will bring out a white paper that compares Karnataka with other states on parameters such as infrastructure, investment opportunities, human resource and skill sets availability, ease of doing business, and taxation policy.

Former state bureaucrat A Ravindra, now chairman of Centre for Sustainable Development, said that the summit also would discuss ways to spread urban development to other regions in the state such as Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore, and Belgaum.

“We don’t just want to close the summit with a good set of conversations that are intellectually stimulating. We would request the government to set up a project management office, which will work along with BCIC to try and implement some of the measures emanating out of the summit,” said S Vaitheeswaran, MD, Manipal Global Education Services.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / by Anshul Dhamija, TNN / December 07th, 2013