The Karnataka government signed an MoU with Lulu International Group on Monday, with CM Basavaraj Bommai presenting the Rs 2,000 crore investment at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos Switzerland. The CM also held talks with companies such as Jubilant Group, Hitachi, Hero MotoCorp, Siemens, Dassault Systèmes and Nestlé.

Lulu Group plans to open four shopping malls and hypermarkets. In a statement, the CM Office said it was also keen to establish export-oriented food units in Karnataka, and these projects are expected to create jobs for 10,000 people.

Industry Minister Murugesh Nirani, Additional Chief Secretary EV Ramana Reddy of the Department of Commerce and Industry, CM’s Principal Secretary N Manjunath Prasad, and Commissioner of Industries Department Gunjan Krishna attended the meeting. Bommai invited Jubilant Group to explore investment opportunities in the pharmaceutical and FMCG sectors in Karnataka and promoted the establishment of an FMCG park in Dharwad, explaining the state’s preferential policies to attract investors to set up units here.

Jubilant Food Works has decided to build its central kitchen, while Jubilant Biosys is keen to establish its R&D department on 10 acres in Devanahalli. Currently, about 9,000 people work in Jubilant in the state. Currently, about 9,000 people work in Jubilant in the state.

Meanwhile, Hitachi Energy has expressed interest in negotiating an EV charging infrastructure unit in the state. Given Bengaluru’s large talent pool, the company has shown interest in exploring opportunities in the energy and digitalisation sectors, the release said. The company will open its energy quality instrumentation division in Doddaballapur.

Bengaluru-based Hitachi Energy is building an engineering centre that will employ about 2,000 engineers. Noting that Siemens is working on two projects in Bengaluru, focusing on magnetic imaging and diagnostics and a health-related R&D project, the chief marketing officer said the company plans to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a medical device manufacturing unit in Bommasandra in September 2022 to meet the domestic market need.

Bommai has been invited to participate in the programme. The company currently has about 2,000 engineers. It said the state government had assured the company of special incentives to build modern medical device manufacturing, adding that representatives from Siemens and the state government had also discussed projects beyond Bengaluru to attract Hubballi-Dharwad Tumakuru and Mysore.

According to the CMO, Dassault has shown digital 4.0 technology projects in Karnataka to invest in EVs, modern production systems, industry training and smart city projects for students. In contrast, Nestlé has expressed interest in its Nanjangud district Modernise and expansion. Nestle’s instant coffee division. Bomai launched the Karnataka Pavilion at the WEF summit on the same day and held talks with spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi’ Vasudev on issues of soil extinction, climate change and ecological degradation.