As the dust settles in Karnataka over what was seen by many as a foregone conclusion, it is now time to get down to the business of governance. Over a 35-year period, between August 1988 to May 2023, the State has had 18 different governments (many Chief Ministers more than once) and was under President’s Rule four times. So, it is 22 different configurations across a 35-year period, leading to a not-so-healthy average of 18 months per configuration. Karnataka is a synonym for instability if data is to be believed. One wonders what this augurs for the State with this kind of a history.
A trillion-dollar economy goal
Karnataka aspires to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2032 and needs a 17%-18% Compound Annual Growth Rate in its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to make this happen over the next decade — the current CAGR is around 13% — thus, a steep ask. During 2022-23, Karnataka’s per capita GSDP was around $4,000 which is almost twice that of India’s per capita GDP. Its GDP is around $250 billion, but the distribution is skewed, with the bulk of the contribution from the services sector. Of this, the roughly $60 billion digital economy is largely centered in and around Bengaluru, straining the infrastructure of a city which simply was not built for such explosive growth; therefore, building satellite technology/other clusters on the lines of Cyberabad, Mohali, Oragadam (Tamil Nadu), Navi Mumbai, and Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh) is critical. Bengaluru has about two million knowledge professionals; a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation will reveal the staggering number of buses which deposit and bring back this workforce, in two shifts, from the four or five clusters within the city, almost bringing these places to a virtual halt. No other city faces this issue on such a scale.
