Bangalore, Feb 11 (IANS) The Karnataka government is setting up an aerospace park near the international airport at Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city to attract global investments in the sector, a senior official said Thursday.
“We have acquired about 1,000 acres of land adjacent to the new airport to build world class infrastructure for the aerospace industry. About 250 acres of the land will be earmarked for a special economic zone (SEZ) in the aerospace hub,” state Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath said at an interactive session with the industry here.

As India’s tech hub and a nerve centre of aerospace activity, Bangalore is best suited to have a dedicated industrial park for aerospace designing, engineering, manufacturing, assembling and testing.

“The SEZ in the aerospace park will be eligible for a slew of benefits and tax sops applicable to such export zones in the country. It is for investors and companies to take advantage of the location, its proximity to the airport and availability of talent for a rewarding business,” state industry principal secretary V.P Baligar told about 100 delegates from the aviation sector at the session, organised by the Karnataka chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Besides the state-run defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), the city is host to a score aeronautical and aerospace research and development organisations.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also headquartered here.

“The aerospace park is being located adjacent to a 1,000-acre electronic hardware park and a 1,000-acre software park, which will enable the aerospace industry to leverage the strengths of the IT sector,” Ranganath noted.

To ensure a balanced growth and de-congest Bangalore, the government is developing industrial corridors across the state, especially in the backward districts like Kolar, with a plethora of incentives, stamp duty exemption, subsidy, interest-free loans and abolition of VAT (value added tax).

“To ensure uniform development of industry and services across the state, we are encouraging prospective investors to look at places such as Chitradurga, Belgaum, Hassan, Gulbarga and Bidar,” Baligar pointed out.

The state government has identified about 5,000 acres of land at Chitradurga, about 180 km from Bangalore, for allotment to the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Aeronautical Development Agency.

“Of the total land, about 1,500 acres will be earmarked for the second campus of IISc, about 1,000 acres for test range facility of DRDO and another 1,000 acres for defence manufacturing industry and small and medium enterprises. The remaining land (1,500 acres) will be developed as a land bank for creating the eco-system for transforming Chitradurga into a major industrial hub,” Baligar said.