Political fall-out dulls industry mood

BANGALORE: The state government may have boasted about the success of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) 2010 and the volume of investments brought into the state, but according to business forums, industrialists exude a situation of desperation and despair in lieu of the political crisis in the state.In the past many projects publicly declared their apprehensions to invest in the state and such circumstances might lead to industries leaving for a more conducive business environment in other states. Chairman of the Karnataka State Council for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) Sajjan Poovayya said, “The state government and politicians must become facilitators of business. But it becomes a dangerous equation when they become competitors.”He added that the political crisis would have deep seated impact on industries and business houses as well. “The reasons for this could be that there is lack of transparency and increase in levels of corruption,” he said and added that the threshold on legitimate companies operating under legitimate licenses would increase. Inferring the mining report, he said that it was due to a few politicians that there was a ban for legitimate exporters, causing losses to the state exchequer. “You don’t cut off the head when you have a headache,” he explained.