Bengaluru: Doubling down on his allegation that the Centre was “arm-twisting” companies to invest in Assam and Gujarat, among other BJP-ruled states, Karnataka Information Technology (IT) Minister Priyank Kharge, Tuesday, said that his state houses “38-40 percent of the country’s tech talent”, but the Narendra Modi-led central government has been sending away companies to places without any ecosystems.
“It is very clear that the central government is arm-twisting, poaching companies and diverting them to states where there are no ecosystems, and places that require, at least, five to 10 years more to build an ecosystem,” Priyank Kharge told ThePrint Tuesday. “If they are really interested in getting things done, places like Bengaluru, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu are the natural choices from an investment perspective.”
The Karnataka minister’s comments came amid his war of words with Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has called him “a first-class idiot”.
From semiconductors to AI, the Centre’s arm-twisting extends to several sectors, Kharge told ThePrint. Not only a majority of tech talent, but also most Indians qualified in semiconductor design live in Karnataka, making it an obvious choice for semiconductor companies, Priyank Kharge added.
In just over a month, the Centre ‘compelled’ three semiconductor companies looking to invest in Karnataka to set up shop in other states, Priyank Kharge’s IT ministry officials told ThePrint.
Similar allegations have been levelled by the Tamil Nadu and Telangana state governments, which are non-BJP, against the Centre.
On 1 September, PIB had shared data showing India’s semiconductor industry at $38 billion in 2023. It is projected to grow between $100 and $110 billion by 2030.
So far, India has approved 10 semiconductor projects, with investments of nearly Rs 1.6 lakh crore across six states—four in Gujarat, two in Odisha, one each in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab.
According to information available on India’s Semiconductor Mission (ISM), there are provisions of fiscal support to the tune of 50 percent of the capital expenditure for setting up manufacturing units for Silicon Photonics (SiPh), sensors (including MEMS), Fab/Discrete Semiconductor Fab, and Semiconductor ATMP/OSAT, among other compound semiconductors, in India.
The Karnataka government, however, has so far not divulged details of the semiconductor companies, their investments, or the jobs they are expected to create. It has defended this silence, saying such information is not to be made public under confidentiality agreements it signed with firms.
Another official aware of the developments said that the semiconductor companies would share their location details, proposed investments, and the land allotted to them by the end of October, in applications submitted to the Centre to claim incentives and other benefits under various schemes and programmes.
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‘Not merit, but model of inducement’
Priyank Kharge, the son of Congress’s national president, Mallikarjun Kharge, has been at the receiving end of criticism since Google announced that it would establish India’s first Artificial Intelligence hub in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.
It sparked heated exchanges between Kharge and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, Nara Lokesh, especially in the backdrop of attempts by Andhra’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to lure away companies from Karnataka, promising better infrastructure and policy provisions.
First, Nara Lokesh, also Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s son, wrote on X: “They say Andhra food is spicy. Seems some of our investments are too. Some neighbours are already feeling the burn!”. In a counter-attack, Kharge said that “nutritionists recommend a balanced diet” and “economists too advocate a balanced budget”. He pointed out that Andhra Pradesh’s largesse had inflated its liabilities to nearly Rs 10 lakh crore.
Afterwards, the BJP came to the aid of its ally, the TDP. Leaders commented that Priyank Kharge’s comments are an attempt to divert public attention from the Karnataka government’s failure to attract big investors to the state or the crumbling infrastructure in India’s IT capital, Bengaluru.
On Monday, Kharge told reporters, “Why are semiconductor companies going to Assam and Gujarat? Though they want to come to Bangalore? I have raised this issue before. All the investments coming to Karnataka are being arm-twisted by the central government to go to Gujarat. What is there in Gujarat? Is there talent there? What is there in Assam? Is there talent there?”
His comments irked the Assam CM, with Himanta Biswa Sharma thereafter calling Priyank Kharge a “first-class idiot”.
On Tuesday, Priyank Kharge told Sarma in an X post, “I hope you remember your remarks last year about the talent pool in Assam. By your own admission, thousands of Assamese are being trained in Bengaluru. I’m glad Karnataka’s ecosystem is able to support the youth of Assam. A simple ‘thank you’ would have sufficed instead of the politically rabid comments. But then again, lying to people and scamming is something that comes naturally to you.”
Amid all this, BJP’s information technology cell chief, Amit Malviya, claimed that semiconductor companies “chose” Assam and Gujarat over Karnataka, blaming Kharge for the losses. “India deserves merit, not family privilege,” Malviya wrote.
The Karnataka Congress, meanwhile, has backed Priyank Kharge, saying that the state did not “lose” Google investments but instead investors were being “lured away”.
In an X post, Karnataka Congress commented from its official handle that the $15 billion Google AI hub was diverted to another state, not due to ‘talent’ but other considerations. It listed the incentives offered by Andhra Pradesh, saying that Google’s decision to invest there was not based upon “merit” but a “model of inducement”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)