Bengaluru, 11 July

The State government is making strides in establishing a defence corridor in the state, with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh responding positively to the proposal, Minister for Large and Medium Industries MB Patil said. He added that the State will approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.

Patil said, "Singh has responded positively to our request to sanction defence corridors for Hubballi-Dharwad-Belgaum-Vijayapura in North Karnataka and Bengaluru Rural-Kolar-Chikkaballapur in South Karnataka. We will also meet with Modi in this regard as soon as possible. After that, the matter will come before the Union Cabinet".

Patil emphasised that the global political situation and conflicts will drive demand. "Due to the Israel-Iran, Russia-Ukraine conflict and changes in the global political situation, there will be a demand for deep-tech-based industries like defence industry, aerospace, semiconductor, AI, etc., in the next 20 years. Nvidia has emerged as the first company to register a turnover of 4 trillion dollars in this sector. We need to prepare Karnataka to utilise this as an opportunity".

Patil will meet the Civil Aviation Minister in Delhi next week to discuss the construction of a second international airport in City.