Karnataka expecting Rs 10 lakh cr investment commitments in investor meet: Minister MB Patil
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka is expecting to sign investment commitments of about Rs 10 lakh crore with an array of industries at its biennial investor meet this week, aimed at showcasing the state's industrial potential, M B Patil, Minister of Large and Medium Scale Industries, said.
The Invest Karnataka 2025 -- Global Investors Meet (GIM 2025), scheduled from February 11-14 in Bengaluru, aims to position Karnataka as a premier global investment hub.
"We are expecting around Rs 10 lakh crore in investments, with at least 70 per cent converting into reality (and) not just (remaining) on paper," he told PTI Videos.
On the theme of the summit 'Re-Imagining Growth', Patil said this "because today we are in a stage where our world is moving towards tech-driven, green, inclusive, and more importantly, resilient growth. Because we are in a situation... (these are) challenging times. There is a war in Ukraine and Russia, then the Israel-Gaza conflict, (US President) Trump's policies, China plus one, two years (post recovery from) Covid-19, and more importantly, artificial intelligence, clean mobility coming in".
"EVs and green hydrogen will take centrestage. Diesel, petrol, and all fossil fuels will be phased out. So these are challenging times, how do you adapt to that? We have a very strong system, which has to be resilient to all these changes. So we have this investors meet in these challenging times," he said.
The inaugural session will be on February 10 at 4 pm.
"The governor will be there with his auspicious presence. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be presiding, and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be inaugurating. Many central ministers are going to participate, some on 12th, some on 13th, and some on 14th. State ministers, industrialists, and big names will all be participating in this meet," he said.
February 12 and 13 will feature business sessions, including a semiconductor summit. On February 12 evening, there will be an award function recognising industries that have contributed to Karnataka's growth.
On February 13, there will be multiple sessions and roundtables, including the Queen's City roundtable. The event will conclude on February 14 with awards for ventures and key contributors.
As many as "19 countries are participating, with 9 of them having their pavilions here. It will be a meaningful forum, with 60+ speakers sharing insights," he said.
The minister said Karnataka is already a leader in IT, biotechnology, electronics, machine tools, aerospace, and defense. "We aim to continue leading in India and compete globally."
Karnataka, he said, has always been a fertile ground for industries to thrive. "Challenges exist, but we are addressing them. Semiconductor, AI, and automation will play a key role in industries from mobile manufacturing to heavy industries. We are unveiling an industrial policy with flexible incentives -- either production-linked or capital-based, as per investor preference."
"We are offering incentives for employment, especially for women. R&D that translates into manufacturing will get an additional 10 per cent incentive. Sustainability and green manufacturing initiatives will also receive incentives," he said, adding that a single-window portal developed by Microsoft will streamline approvals.
The portal integrates all departments, reducing approval time by half. "Everything will be available at the touch of a button, significantly improving the ease of doing business. Karnataka will be among the best states to do business," he said.
"We are open to all sectors and all countries. We are not restricted to any one industry -- our doors are open for investments across sectors and geographies," he added.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
