BENGALURU: Two months after its creation, Karnataka’s department of global investment and NRI affairs has made a quiet start and now plans to expand abroad. It will hire consultants for three years and rope in a leading global financial consulting firm to attract investments.Applications opened Thursday, with the finance department clearing posts, department secretary SS Nakul told TOI. Candidates should be fluent in English and have relevant experience. The consultants will handhold investors, engage with NRIs from Karnataka and be the face of destination Karnataka worldwide.The consulting firm will be picked via a tender, after which specific proposals will be pursued aggressively. While industries and IT-BT departments have their own systems to woo investors, the new department will focus on health, education and tourism. “We will look at private equity, venture capital and family offices for those sectors,” Nakul said. It will also seek more funding from businesses already in the state.CM to oversee affairsOfficials suggested there is no proposal for a separate minister, and the department will stay with CM DK Shivakumar. It has so far facilitated his meetings with Poland PM Donald Tusk, Sweden’s ambassador Petra Menander and Switzerland’s Maya Tiffasi.“We will soon meet ambassadors and French ministers,” Nakul said.With a budget of Rs 20 crore, the department has only a secretary, deputy secretary and under-secretary. “It will be lean and nimble,” Nakul said.On diaspora welfare, former NRI Forum chairperson Arathi Krishna said she used her diplomatic and NRI networks to help Kannadigas stranded abroad or those who lost jobs since no support structure existed. “The department needs human resources and proper funding to sustain it,” she said.Reskilling projectThere is no plan to find re-employment for those fired abroad, but they are being referred to the skills department. “They are being reskilled for jobs suited to India or the countries they plan to move to,” Nakul said.
