Bengaluru, Oct 23 (IANS): With a view to increasing its share in the country's digital economy, Karnataka would focus on 5 key sectors for job creation and ease of doing business," state Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Thursday.

"We are focusing on 5 key sectors -- artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, automobiles, biotechnology and Internet of Things (IoT) to attract investments from the world over and generate about 70,000 jobs across the state," said Shettar at the 7th national forum of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in the virtual meet.

The New Delhi-based forum is a platform for corporate and public affairs practitioners and has members from large and medium firms from across the country, including Indian and overseas firms.

"The state government is skilling its workforce so that the industry can hire them for commencing operations at the earliest," said Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yedyiurappa on the occasion.

Asserting that the state government was taking measures to sustain the economic growth amid the Covid pandemic, Shettar said Karnataka was the hub of IT services in line with its newly introduced IT policy for 2020-25.

"We are focussing on the new Industrial policy and the Industrial Facilitation Act to ensure investors implement their projects at the earliest," said Shettar on the occasion.

The southern state has attracted investment proposals valued at Rs 1.38 lakh crore in 2020, the minister claimed.

"Our new industrial policy aims to create about 20 lakh jobs in diverse sectors spanning manufacturing and services over the next 5 years," said Shettar.

State industry secretary Gaurav Gupta said the state government helped the industry to revive growth after the Covid-induced lockdown was lifted gradually since May.

"The pandemic has taught us the importance of building a strong value chain. We offer supply chains to industries, de-risk their operations and strengthen the local ecosystem for sustainable solutions," said Gupta.

US-India Chamber of Commerce president Nisha Biswal said Karnataka was a harbinger of opportunity India seeks to capitalise on, post-pandemic, in the knowledge economy or the service sector.