Karnataka

Agro Food Processing

With a population of over 52 million, Karnataka offers an excellent market for agro food processing companies. With its 10 agro-climatic zones and nine distinct soil types, it is an ideal place for growing virtually every kind of agricultural and horticultural produce.

The State Government has initiated a number of measures to facilitate and sustain investments at every point in the food chain from producer to consumer. Food Technology Parks having a hub of 4-6 farms are being planned to channel known how, resource and support services. The services provided by these park will range from soil testing, nursery, farm machinery, fertilisers, crop protection, storage and processing to market linkages, farm credit and exports.

Several major international food companies have located their facilities in karnataka. These include Nestle, Unilever, Global Green,Danone, Wrigleys, Heinz, Pepsi and Coca Cola, Nissin, Ovobel, among others.

Karnataka is also the leader in floriculture, accounting for 75% of India's total flower production. The state has the highest area under modern cut flowers, and 40 flower growing and exporting units. The country's first and only flower auction centre is located in Karnataka.

Biotechnology

Karnataka leads the Indian biotechnology revolution with its excellent infrastructure and a highly integrate environment for biotech research. It is host to a number of leading bio-tech companies and start-ups, as well as some of the finest R & D facilities in the world - the Indian Institute of Science (ranked 18th Best University in the world), the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, the University of Argicultural Sciences, the Central Food Technological Research Institute, and the Institute of Bio-informatics and Biotechnology.

Karnataka was the first to set up a Vision Group on Biotechnology as well as the first to announce a Biotech Policy aimed at encouraging investments, developing infrastructure and enhancing human resources for this sector. On the anvil are biotech parks at Bangalore and Dharwad, a marine biotech park at Karwar, a biotech corridor at Bangalore, a centre for human genetics and an institute of agri-biotechnology.