Union FM asks Karnataka to do branding during G-20 meetings

BENGALURU: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said most of the G-20 meetings next year will be held at several destinations across the country, including those in Karnataka, and called on the state to do its branding, and to identify its products, which can be showcased.

She also requested the Chambers of Commerce to work together with those industries, particularly small and medium, and those particularly working in handicrafts and traditional Karnataka products, so that they are showcased and the benefit of G-20 coming to the state is reaped fully. ''Next year, India is going to hold the chair for G-20. The 20 countries and multilateral institutions which are invited to participate will be moving all over the country. The Prime Minister has said G-20 meetings will happen not just in Delhi, most of them will happen outside of Delhi, and there are several destinations in Karnataka where the meetings will be held,'' Sitharaman said.

She said, ''I hope and earnestly wish, and I will certainly do my bit for Karnataka to do its branding, to identify those products, which can really be branded and showcased during the G-20 meetings. It will immediately attract the attention of the top leadership which will be moving across the country during the course of next year.'' The Finance Minister, who is Member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka was addressing the 105th Annual General Meeting of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here.

Noting that next year is the ''year of millets'' and Karnataka is the lead producer of millets in the country, Sitharaman, while highlighting its processing said millet is now the ''gold for wellbeing'', all over the world there is a market for it.

''All over the world there is a market for it. India is the largest producer and third largest exporter of millets, but value addition is what is going to be important,'' she said, while observing that there is a need for a lot of startups to look at innovative ways of doing it.

People who are enablers in business, such as Chartered Accountants, tax consultants, chambers of commerce, should identify the ways in which these startups can benefit and bring value addition in millet processing, and thereby fetching better prices for farmers, she added.