Economy of Karnataka


is one of the highest economic growth states in India with an expected GSDP growth of 8.2% in the 2010-11 fiscal year. The total expected GSDP of Karnataka in 2010–2011 is about 2719.56 billion. Per capita GSDP during 2008–2009 was US$1034.9. Karnataka recorded the highest growth rates in terms of GDP and per capita GDP in the last decade compared to other states. In 2008–09, the tertiary sector contributed the most to GSDP, followed by the secondary sector, and the primary sector.
With an overall GDP growth of 56.2% and a per capita GDP growth of 43.9% in the last decade, Karnataka surpassed all other states in India, pushing Karnataka's per capita income in Indian Rupee terms to sixth place. Karnataka received US$2,026.4 million worth of Foreign Direct Investment for the fiscal year 2008–09, placing it at the third spot among states in India. At the end of 2004, the unemployment rate of Karnataka was 4.57% compared to a national rate of 5.99%. For the fiscal year 2006–07 the inflation rate of Karnataka was 4.4%, which was less than the national average.
Between 2011-12 and , the GSDP of the state grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 13.11 per cent to reach 12.69 trillion and the net state domestic product grew at a CAGR of 12.83 per cent to reach 11.45 trillion.
A fiscal year in Karnataka begins on 1 April of the previous calendar year and ends on 31 March of the year with which it is numbered.
After Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi districts contribute the highest revenue to the state respectively.

Agriculture and Livestock

Agriculture is the primary occupation of most of Karnataka's rural people. A total of 123,100 km2 of land is cultivated in Karnataka, constituting 64.60% of the total geographical area of the state. According to the 2001 census, farmers and agricultural labourers formed 56% of the workforce of Karnataka. Agriculture in Karnataka is heavily dependent on the southwest monsoon since the extent of arid land in the state is second only to Rajasthan. Only 26.5% of sown area is subjected to irrigation. The state has three agricultural seasons – Kharif, Rabi and Summer.
Given below is a table of 2015 national output share of select agricultural crops and allied segments in Karnataka based on 2011 prices
SegmentNational Share %
Mulberry98.7
Coffee82.7
Safflower62.1
Ragi59.2
Arecanut58.6
Sunflower55.2
Tamarind32.4
Sericulture and Apiculture28.9
Jowar26.9
Horsegram25.6
Sapota24.6
Capsicum19.9
Pomegranate19.8
Water melon19.7
Coconut17.3
Grape17.3
Floriculture16.8
Narcotics15.9
Wool and hair14.8
Maize14.5
Pepper14.2
Cucumber13.9
Condiments and spices13.5
Sugarcane10.7
Cashew nut9.6
Arhar9.4
Tobacco leaf9.2
Tobacco stem9.2
Fuel wood8.4
Carrot7.9
Tomato7.2
Pineapple7.1
Egg6.7
Bean6.6
Lemon6.6
Pulse6.5
Jackfruit6.4
Turmeric5.8
Cocoa5.6
Groundnut5.6
Marine fish5.5
Ginger5.4
Mango5.4
Grass5.2
Papaya5.2
Rubber5.1
Kitchen garden5.0

Primary Crops grown in Karnataka

The main crops grown are Rice, Ragi, Jowar, maize, and pulses in addition to oilseeds and a number of other cash crops. Cashews, coconut, arecanut, cardamom, chillies, cotton, sugarcane and tobacco are also produced. Karnataka is the largest producer of coarse cereals, coffee, raw silk and tomatoes among the states in India. Horticultural crops are grown in an area of 16,300 km2 and the annual production is about 9.58 million tons. The income generated from horticulture constitutes over 40% of income generated from agriculture and it is about 17% of the state's GDP. In floriculture, Karnataka occupies the second position in India in terms of production and 700 tons of flowers were produced in 2004–05.
A majority of the thirty-five billion rupee silk industry in India is headquartered in Karnataka State, primarily in Mysore and North Bangalore regions of Doddaballapura, the site of a planned 700 million "Silk City".

Education

Karnataka is one the largest concentrations of higher education including medical and engineering colleges. Apart from Bengaluru, places like Mangalore, Hubballi Dharwad, Mysore, Belagavi, udupi and Davanagere have been producing professionals for the Information Technology industry. Muddenahalli, in North Bangalore, is the site of the upcoming Sri Sathya Sai Baba University and College of Medicine and a branch of the Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology. Devanahalli is set to be the location of a 95 billion Devanahalli Business Parks, which will contain Aerospace Education Special Economic Zones, near the Bengaluru International Airport. The North Bangalore region is set to be a premier educational hub of Karnataka. Dharwad in the northern part of the state is another hub for education with several engineering colleges With National importance institutions like IIT dharwad, IIIT Dharwad and Dakshina Prachara Sabha are present in dharwad and hence called Education Hub. and a central university present in Kalaburgi. These developments are set to contribute significantly to Karnataka's economy by creating jobs, expanding educational opportunities, and spurring infrastructure development.

Industry

Karnataka evolved as the manufacturing hub for some of the largest public sector industries of India after India's independence. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited which is dedicated to research and development activities for indigenous fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force employs over 9,500 employees making it one of the largest public sector employers in Karnataka.
Other heavy industries such as National Aerospace Laboratories, Indian Telephone Industries, Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Hindustan Machine Tools and Indian subsidiaries of Volvo and Toyota are also headquartered in Bangalore. India's national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, is headquartered in Bangalore and employs approximately 20,000 people.
TVS Motors has a motorcycle manufacturing plant at Mysore and Tata Motors at Dharwad. Karnataka state has many companies engaged in the manufacturing of electrical equipment and machinery like Kirloskar, ABB Group, Kavika, Larsen and Toubro etc. This may be due to the location of the Central Power Research Institute at Bangalore. Many multinational companies have set up their manufacturing units in Karnataka such as BASF, and Bosch.
The state owns sugar factories in the northern region, edible oil processing factories, pharmaceutical factories, textile processing centers, and steel producing facilities. Vishwesharaiya steel plant at Bhadravati is run by SAIL.

Minerals

Gold, iron ore, quartz, limestone, manganese, kyanite and bauxite are some of the minerals that are found in Karnataka. After the closure of the Kolar Gold Fields mine, the only company in India that produces gold by mining and extracting it from the ore is Hutti Gold Mines Limited that has plants at Hutti and Chitradurga in Karnataka. The major mines of manganese and iron ore are located at Sandur in Bellary district. Visweswaraiah Iron and Steel Ltd. at Bhadravathi and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd. at Toranagal are engaged in the production of iron and steel. Indian Aluminium Company Ltd has an aluminum plant near Belgaum. Mysore Minerals Limited is in the mining and production of chromite industry in Hassan district. Rajashree Cements at Adityanagar, Vasavadatta Cements at Sedam and The Associated Cement Company Ltd. at Wadi are engaged in the production of cement. Uranium deposits have been found in Deshnur, a small village near Belgaum.

Information and biotechnology

Karnataka is the leader in the information technology sector in India and its capital, Bangalore, is known as the Silicon Valley of India. In the IT sector, Karnataka generated a total revenue of 516.5 billion in the financial year 2006–07 which included 487 billion from software exports and 29.5 billion from hardware exports. A total of 1973 companies in the state are involved in Information Technology-related business. While the bulk of the IT related companies are located in Bangalore, some companies are located in Mysore and Mangalore as well. Bangalore is also the headquarters of Wipro and Infosys which are among the top three IT companies in India in regards to market capitalization. The Nandi Hills area in Devanahalli outskirts is the site of the upcoming $22 Billion, 50 square kilometre BIAL IT Investment Region, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Karnataka.
As of June 2006, Karnataka housed 55% of biotechnology related companies in India. Bangalore is also the home of the largest biocluster in India with total revenues of 14 billion and having 158 of the 320 companies working on biotechnology in India. Karnataka has a headcount of over 6,800 scientists involved in biotech research and out of twenty eight biotech companies that were registered in India in the year 2005–06, 27 were located in Karnataka.

Banking in Karnataka

Karnataka, particularly the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, is sometimes called the "cradle of banking" in India. This is because seven of the country's leading banks, Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Vijaya Bank, Karnataka Bank, Vysya Bank and the State Bank of Mysore originated in this state. The first five in the above list of banks were established in the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. These districts have among the best distribution of banks in India—a branch for every 500 persons. Between 1880 and 1935, twenty two banks were established in coastal Karnataka, nine of them in the city of Mangalore.
As of March 2009, Karnataka had 5,759 branches of different banks servicing the people of the state. The number of people served by each branch was 10,000 which was lesser than the national average of 15,000, thereby indicating better penetration of banking in the state.

Infrastructure

Physical infrastructure – roads

The state is well connected to its six neighboring states and other parts of India through 14 National Highways ; it accounts for about six percent of the total NH network in India.
Its district centers are linked through 114 State Highways
The total road network of NH, SH, and district roads is about 2,07,379 km, of which 1,27,541 km is surfaced
Road Type Road length
National highways: 4,396
State highways: 28,311
District roads: 19,801

Physical infrastructure – ports

.
Total traffic handled: 67.30 MTA.
Total imports handled: 23.6 MTA.
Total exports handled: 32.9 MTA.
Number of vessels: 1,186
Cruise vessels: 26
Revenue: US$65 million
KarwarPort
Total cargo handled: 2.7 MTA
Total imports and exports: 6 MTA
Revenue: US$2.7 million
25 Private liquid cargo tanks: 75,000 MT

Physical infrastructure – airports

Domestic airports

Railway network of 3,172 km
South Western Railway covers almost part of Karnataka Railway
Hubballi is a Headquarters of South Western Railway
There are 3 divisions in SWR
There are Two Railway heritage museum in Karnataka
Urban transport
Metro rail and mono-rail projects are underway in Bangalore. The first phase of the Namma Metro will cover a total of 42.3 km

Ongoing projects

Hassan–Sakhleshpura–Mangalore line gauge conversion is completed. Both freight and passenger trains run on this route on a daily basis connecting the seaport city of Mangaluru to the state capital of Bengaluru and Mysooru.
Key connectivity projects, doubling of Mysore–Bangalore railway line, Gadag–Bagalokot, Bangalore–Hassan to be taken up in the near future.

Physical infrastructure – power

Generation: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited and IPPs
KPCL has an installed capacity of over 9315 MW.
Number of consumers: 16.3 million
Independent power producers have installed capacity of 2,005 MW.
Transmission: Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited.
Area covered: 192,000 km2
Sub stations: 1,205
Transmission lines: 28,000 km, 33 kV, 130,000 km of 11 kV.
LT lines: 451855 km
Distribution transformers: 1,50,000
Physical infrastructure – power
Distribution/supply: Electricity Supply Companies
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company
Mangalore Electricity Supply Company
HubliElectricity Supply Company
Gulbarga Electric Supply Company
ChamundeshwariElectric Supply Corporation
Source: Power sector at a glance as on July 2009‖, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited website, accessed 23 September 2009.

Physical infrastructure – telecommunications

Leading telecom companies in the sectors of telecommunication network, basic telephony services and networking services for telecommunication equipment are operating in the state.
The entire State is networked via Optic FibreCables by the state-run BSNL as well as private companies like Bharti, Reliance, VSNL and TATA Tele Services.
Last Mile Access is provided by BSNL as well as TATA Tele Services in various parts of the state. Bhartiand Reliance Communications provide the Last Mile Access directly to the customer in all major cities in Karnataka.
Seven new telephone exchanges were opened in 2007–2008.
Telecom service providers in Karnataka.
BSNL, BhartiAirtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar, Spice Communications, Tata Teleservices Ltd.
Key statistics
Cellular subscribers: about 10 million
Internet/broadband
Subscribers: about 0.8 million
Telecom towers: about 14,000
Post offices: 9,826
Telephone connections provided: 2,610
Telephone exchanges: 2,727

Industrial infrastructure

Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board and Karnataka State Industrial Investment Development Corporation are jointly responsible for the development of industrial infrastructure in the state.
Directorate of Commerce and Industries has set up a district and taluk industrial centres across the state to facilitate investment
The Government of Karnataka is promoting the development of several SEZs across Karnataka such as pharma and biotech SEZ, food processing and agro-based industries and textiles SEZ at Hassan and IT and Coastal SEZs at Mangalore.
Key industrial clusters
IT/ITES cluster in electronic city and Whitefield.
Food Parks - 4 old State sponsored and 2 new MoFPI sponsored Food Parks in 6 Districts of Karnataka
Biotech park/cluster in electronic city, Bangalore.
Integrated Food Parks in Hiriyur, Bagalkote, Jewargi & Malur for pay-n-use common facilities & MSME Food Processing Manufacturers
Machine tool cluster at Peenyaindustrial estate
Textile cluster at Doddaballapur
Foundry cluster at Belgaum
Industrial valve cluster at Hubli–Dharwad
Coir clusters at Hassan.
Handicrafts cluster at Channapatna.
Coffee production and processing cluster in Madekeri
SEZs in Karnataka
Notified: 27
Formal approvals: 52
In-principle approvals: 9
Source: StatewiseSEZs in India, www.sezindia.nic.in. accessed 23 September 2009

Water supply

The water supply is provided by the local authorities like municipalities and panchayats. The first hydroelectric plant in the state was built at Shivanasamudra Falls on the Kaveri River in 1902.

Electrical supply

Karnataka has an installed capacity of 27 gigawatts of electricity, of which 12 GW comes from renewable energy sources. The state is India's top producer of solar energy, with an installed capacity of 5.16 GW.
Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited is the sole provider of electricity for the state. The Linganamakki reservoir will supply around 35 percent of power to the state. Electric power from KPTCL is distributed through distribution companies like Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, Mangalore Electricity Supply Company, Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company, Hubli Electricity Supply Company and Chamundesvary Electricity Supply Company for different parts of the state. A good number of windmills were present. The Raichur Thermal Power Station and Near Bellary. Karnataka is also the location of companies like SELCO, which is promoting the use of solar electricity among the rural areas of the state and is also a twice winner of the Ashden Awards.