Investors can buy farmland in 30 days in Karnataka soon

Investors would soon be able to buy agricultural land directly from farmers within 30 days for setting up their industries in Karnataka, state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said on Saturday.

"We are amending section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act in the ensuing budget session of the assembly in March to enable investors buy lands from farmers in the state directly in a month," Yediyurappa told reporters here on return from the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting at Davos in Switzerland from January 21-24.

To improve the ease of doing business in the southern state, the 60-day limit for land acquisition will be reduced to 30 days after the Act is amended by the Assembly.

"If the land acquisition process is not completed in the two-month limit, the state government's approval can be deemed given for the investors to take possession of the land for building their production facility," asserted the Chief Minister.

State Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said of the 30,000-acre land bank earmarked for industrial development across the state, about 12,000 acres was ready for allotment to investors.

Yediyurappa showcased the state's infrastructure and natural and human resources at a road show on the sidelines of the 5-day WEF meet for prospective investments in the manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors.

"Potential investors at the summit expressed concern over the delay in land acquisition across the state due to procedural and bureaucratic hurdles," recalled the chief minister.

Clarifying that section 109 of the Land Reforms Act would not be removed but amended for the benefit of the farmers and investors, the Chief Minister said his government was committed to provide ease of doing business in the state so as attract global investment in diverse verticals, especially infrastructure, services, manufacturing and agriculture to double the farmers' income.

As part of its new economic and industrial policies, the state government is also simplifying the rules to convert farm lands for industrial use.

"The online procedure will be simplified for land conversion in 30 days, failing which their application will be deemed approved to start building activity," reiterated Yediyurappa.

A three-day Global Investors Meet (GIM 2020) will be held in this tech city on November 3-5 to attract investments from across the country and overseas.

"The response to our first road show on GIM was encouraging as about 100 global firms attended it and expressed interest in investing in the state," noted Yediyurappa.

Asked if the state government had investment estimates at the GIM, the Chief Minister said it would be in thousands of crores, as several international firms were keen to invest in the state across verticals.

Besides Shettar, state chief secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, additional chief secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy and Industries principal secretary Gaurav Gupta were part of the 10-member state delegation that participated in the WEF summit.