Beyond Bengaluru: 5 Karnataka Districts Picked for India’s New Export Push

Karnataka’s export story is no longer just about Bengaluru. At the State-Level Export Promotion Committee (SLEPC) meeting in Bengaluru on Friday, the Centre named five Karnataka districts for the first phase of a new push to spread export activity beyond the state capital: Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Hassan, Kolar and Dakshina Kannada.

The selection is part of the Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative launched by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), a time-bound campaign covering 120 priority districts across India, according to Darpan Jain, additional secretary in the Union commerce and industry ministry, who addressed the meeting.

Jain said districts beyond Bengaluru hold significant, largely untapped export potential in sectors such as textiles, apparel, silk, leather goods, agriculture and processed food, and that the Centre would support exporters there with financial assistance, freight subsidies for shipments originating outside Bengaluru, airport warehousing support and buyer-seller meets.

The push comes even as Bengaluru continues to anchor Karnataka’s overall export numbers. Chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh told the meeting that Karnataka contributes 41% of India’s software exports, retaining its position as the country’s largest software exporting state.

The state also accounts for 24% of India’s overall exports, though it ranks only fourth in merchandise exports with a 7.78% share, behind Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Jain’s broader remarks placed the district selection within the Centre’s Export Promotion Mission (EPM), a plan to boost India’s exports nationally by building on the specific sectoral strengths of individual states and their districts.

Wikimedia Commons/by Rameshng