Bengaluru: After the incredibly successful two days of ASEAN Business Meet 2019 held at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru, the final day of the Summit witnessed over 2000+ delegates and more than 2500 visitors.
The final day of the ASEAN Business Meet organized by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry started with a Yoga & Meditation session to guide all the visitors towards inner peace and encourage everyone to cultivate mindfulness.
This was followed by an interesting session on ‘Investment Opportunities in Karnataka’ that began with esteemed dignitaries stressing on Karnataka’s receptivity towards disruptive innovation and digitization. The session was chaired by Shri. Gaurav Gupta, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT & S&T and Department of Commerce & Industries, Government of Karnataka.
He focused on the confidence of the state to embrace change and said, “The future is in India, the future is in Karnataka, the future is right now.” He further added that, “Karnataka is a powerhouse of innovation in India. It has the 4th largest skilled workforce and Bengaluru has been ranked as the ‘Most Dynamic City’ and ‘No. 1 Digital City’ in the world.”
In terms of the investment climate, Shri. Gaurav Gupta expects more investments to flow in the brick and mortar industry across Karnataka. Lots of industries have come up in and around Bengaluru such as Bellary, Mysuru, etc.
The Aerospace and Defence industry attracts 65% of the aerospace investments in the country. In the industrial area, we are looking at more land acquisitions, said Shri. Gaurav Gupta.
With regards to R&D, Centres of Excellence in various sectors have been set up to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in Karnataka.
To add to this, Mr. Kamal Bali, MD, Volvo India Pvt. Ltd. stressed on the state being an infectious ecosystem for investments with the right people, policies and support from the Government of Karnataka.
Mr. Sudhakar Shetty, President, FKCCI said on the occasion, “FKCCI has created a platform and is the bridge between industrialists, investors and government.”
The next session for the day on ‘Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam countries’ began with an esteemed panel discussion on the bouquet of opportunities in investment and business that lie in store in these three countries. The panellists included Mr. Sudhakar Shetty, President, FKCCI; Mr. Habib Mohammed Chowdhury, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, HSMM Group of Companies; Mr. Indronil Sengupta, Founder & CEO, Invesify and Mr. Subhadeep Chowdhury, Director, Profitence provided an overview of the import and export industry, progressive demography trends, investment trends and incentives in these countries, making this trio a magnetic ecosystem for growth.
An important highlight of the day was a session on ‘Bamboo as Alternative to Fossil Fuel: Opportunities Ahead’ led by Mr. S. Babu, Past President, FKCCI who emphasized on the urgent need to find non-conventional sources of energy. Through advancement in technology, bamboo can also be used for industrial purposes in the form co-generation to produce heat and power in thermal power plant for electricity production or other plants such as cement or steel.
He mentioned that India has the largest bamboo forest area, and the potential of converting bamboo to biomass to be used as alternative energy is immense in our country.
Shri. Raj Kumar Srivastava, IFS, APCCF NAP & Bamboo Mission, Government of Karnataka added that every industry has energy requirement and bamboo is significant for many other different purposes.
Throughout the day, there were multiple other sessions organized, one of them was on ‘Technology Innovation in Education’ chaired by Mr. Tallam Venkatesh, Past President, FKCCI where they enlightened the audience on transforming education for the future generations. Other sessions organized were on ‘Digital Transformation in the Supply Chain’; ‘Fostering Cross Country Innovation and Collaboration’ by Nasscom; ‘Emerging Opportunities – Smart Cities, Tourism, Blockchain’; ‘Future of Mass Transportation’ and ‘Global Opportunities and Challenges’.
At the valedictory ceremony, Mr. Sudhakar Shetty, President, FKCCI said, “We are overwhelmed by the response that we have received for this Summit. This only strengthens our belief that there is an immense opportunity for India and ASEAN and ASEAN Plus countries to improve trade relations and people to people contact.”
Distinguished Guest of Honour, Shri. K. J. George, Hon’ble Minister for Large & Medium Scale Industries, Government of Karnataka said, “During the Summit, objectives were achieved in positioning Karnataka as a major state for investments and trade. Our efforts will continue to provide an ideal platform to make Karnataka a gateway for promoting the products, building successful partnerships and networking with leading companies and investors.”
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