KASSIA demands Rs 2,500 cr in State budget for Infrastructure development in Pvt Industrial Areas

Bengaluru, Feb 13 (KNN) Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has urged the state government to specially allocate Rs 2,500 crore funding for the development of infrastructure in Private Industrial Areas including District-level.

“The funding may be routed through the Department of MSMEs especially Micro and Small Industries as the nodal department for overseeing the distribution of funds to districts for such infrastructure development,” it said in its submissions to the Chief Minister for consideration in the budget.

K.N. Narasimhamurthy, President, KASSIA has called it the need of the hour since the infrastructure in private industrial estates is woefully lacking for decades.

The state budget for 2023-24 will be presented by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on February 17, 2023.

KASSIA has requested for additional grant for its Centre of Excellence & Innovation (KCoEI).

Narasimhamurthy thanked the government for the financial support extended to KCoEI project by way of a Grant of Rs 5 crore and land at concessional price at Dabaspet.

However the expenditure on the project is now projected to be Rs 33 crore taking into account all its components and escalation in the input cost on raw materials like steel, cement etc.

KASSIA has already made its own contribution of Rs 16 crore so far including the Government Grant on the Project and is striving hard to mobilize the remaining funds for completing the project, informed the chief.

To complete the remaining work, KASSIA needs additional fund support of Rs 10 crore and has requested the state government to provide for it.

It has further appealed to the CM to kindly earmark 40 per cent of property tax collected in Industrial Estates maintained by KSSIDC/KIADB exclusively for the development of industrial infrastructure.

“Entrepreneurs complain that though they pay a substantial amount of property tax, even basic industrial infrastructure is not provided in these areas and in other places where they operate including within the jurisdictions of Panchayats,” pointed out KASSIA.

It has also requested the government to suitably amend the Land Reforms Act to enable KSSIDC to acquire land for SMEs at affordable price and pass on the benefit to the MSME applicants.  (KNN Bureau)