New Delhi, Nov 24 (KNN) The Karnataka government is developing a dedicated park for machine tools in an area of more than 500 acres at an investment of over Rs 500 crore, large & Medium Industries Minister R V Deshpande said in his inaugural address of vendor Development and Investors Summit on Thursday in Bengaluru.

He said that the state government had been developing Tumakuru developed as major industrial node with all infrastructure facilities for MSMEs and OEMs.

The Minister also added that the state government had been focusing on small-scale industries at the summit, as 80% of 13.91 lakh jobs created in the last four years were in the SSI sector.

The summit is an attempt to bring all the central and state PSUs, mega and large units under one roof to identify vendors of their choice in terms of production capacity and quality standards and to help MSMEs understand the importance of OEMs.

Peter Betzel, IKEA India CEO said that the IKEA has acquired 14 acres land in Bengaluru to set up its third store in India after Hyderabad and Mumbai and the company had been planning to open three stores in Bengaluru.

He added that the store in Bengaluru will directly employ 800 people and 50 percent workers will be women. IKEA has partnered with Project Disha to skill women for its retail business. (KNN/AG)