Singapore, July 26, 2007 - Ascendas India Trust (A-iTrust) is launching an IPO to raise SG$500 million. Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) is the first Singapore-listed Indian property trust and provides investors an opportunity to invest in India’s fast-growing economy. The trust has a tax-exempt dividend of 4.75% in its forecast year Apr 1 - Mar 31 2008. A-iTrust is offering 423 million shares at $1.18 Singapore each.
Mumbai, India, June 04, 2007 - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on June 04, 2007, has approved the development of Core Knowledge Park (CKP) at the land available with the Company in Noida. This will be developed by a consortium selected by the Company against an open Expression of Interest (EOI) floated by the Company.
Hyderabad, India, April 19, 2007 - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization, announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to acquire 75 acres of land to develop a state-of-the-art development facility near the new international airport in Hyderabad. TCS will invest up to Rs 400 crore in the facility to create a capacity of 15,000 seats at Adibatla, which is part of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) promoted Special Economic Zone.
Ludhiana, India, March 18, 2007 - Ludhiana, known for its hosiery and sports goods industries, is the most populated city of Punjab. Excellent connectivity with major cities and a favourable business environment has made the city a preferred investment destination of the state. Though Ludhiana has witnessed considerable real estate growth in the past few years, most of the developments have been unplanned and have resulted in extending the city boundaries according to leading global property consultancy firm Knight Frank.
Chandigarh, India, March 18, 2007 - Chandigarh is the first planned city of India and is the capital of the two states of Punjab and Haryana. According to leading global property consultancy firm Knight Frank, the Chandigarh real estate market has witnessed unprecedented growth over the last few quarters.
Hyderabad, India, February 25, 2007 - Leading IT company Cognizant Technology has been allotted 40 acres of land in Adibatla village of Ranga Reddy district near Hyderabad. The company plans to build a 2 million sq.ft office on the plot at an investment of Rs.330 crores.
Mumbai, January 09, 2007 - BSEL Infrastructure Realty Limited in a 50:50 Joint Venture with Unity Infraprojects Limited, has been awarded and allotted an area of 40,000 sq. meters with 1.50 Floor Space Index (FSI) at the “Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat” at Dona Paula, Goa for developing and constructing an Information Technology Park (IT Park). The project is estimated to be approximately 6,45,600 sq. feet of built-up area.
Mumbai, December 12, 2006 - BSEL Infrastructure Realty FZE, UAE, a wholly owned subsidiary of BSEL Infrastructure Realty Limited has brought investment from Gulf Based NRIs to the tune of USD 25 Million for BSEL Infrastructure Realty Limited.
New Delhi, November 02, 2006 - The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for setting up of 100,000 rural Common Services Centers (CSC) across the country at a total cost of Rs. 5742 crore. Of this, the Government of India’s outlay would be Rs. 856 crore and the State Governments’ share Rs. 793 crore. The balance amount of Rs. 4093 crore is expected to come from the private sector. The project is proposed to be implemented by the Department of Information Technology through a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The one lakh CSCs, are expected to give a boost to development by helping to bridge the digital divide. The project is expected to substantially extend the reach of digital services and economic opportunities into the rural and remote areas of the country. The CSCs are proposed to be rolled out in 18 months i.e. by March 2008.
Chennai, October 28, 2006: Bangalore-based Alliance Infrastructure is to develop a residential township in Padi in the Northwest of Chennai at an investment of Rs.500 crore. The integrated township, Orchid Springs, will provide all facilities required to deliver on a "walk to work" concept.
Kolkata, October 17, 2006 - Genpact, a pioneer and global leader in high-quality Business Services and Technology Solutions, today inaugurated a new 80,000 square feet facility in Kolkata.
Mumbai, October 5, 2006: So high is the demand for office space in the Bandra Kurla complex that new tenants are paying almost 100% more in rentals now than the prices prevailing a year ago. Space in Bandra Kurla rents for Rs.250 per sq.ft and this could touch as high as Rs.300 per sq.ft soon.
Hyderabad, September 29, 2006: Hyderabad real estate prices are on a roll. In prime areas, apartments go for anywhere from Rs. 2,800 to Rs. 3,500 per sq.ft a significant increase from even a year ago. According to one real estate source, real estate prices have increased by 10% every week for the last three months.
Kolkata, September 28, 2006: IT major Wipro is finding it hard to get 50 acres in Rajarhat,a fast developing suburb of Kolkata city. The issue appears to be price. The company is reportedly unwilling to pay beyond Rs.70 lakhs per acre, while the state-owned Hidco is seeking a price of Rs.1.5 crore per acre as fair compensation. The West Bengal government had made an offer of an alternate location near Kolkata airport at Rs. 50 lakhs per acre. However the land has yet to be acquired and this may make it less acceptable to Wipro.
Rajarhat, also called New Town, is the latest township being developed on the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata city. The master plan envisions a township that is thrice the size of neighbouring Salt Lake City. Still under development, this area was till recently a big swamp and full of fisheries.
Hyderabad, September 20, 2006: Bhagyanagar India is to sell 50% of its land in Gachibowli, Hyderabad to RIL for between Rs.70-80 crore according to news reports. The company plans to develop a mall on the remaining land in partnership with Godrej Properties.
Mumbai based real estate developer K.Raheja is to expand its projects in Hyderabad. On the anvil is an expansion of the Mindspace IT Park at a cost of Rs. 400 crore, development of the 7 million sq.ft. of office cum residential space Pocharam Park, and the development of a 350,000 sq.ft. mall in Hyderabad within 3 years.
According to property services firm DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, 7 million sq.ft. of office space was absorbed in Bangalore up to July 2006. Current rate of absorption of office space in Bangalore is 1 million sq.ft. per month, almost 60% of which is driven by the IT/ITES sector.
Delhi NCR experiences highest office space absorption in its history during the first seven months of 2006. Absorption crosses 5.1 million sq ft.
In a study conducted by leading global property adviser DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, Delhi NCR has in this year recorded the highest ever commercial Grade – A space absorption in a year of 5.1 million sq ft. Commercial space absorption increased by 42% in just the first seven months of the year as compared to the absorption of 3.5 million sq ft in entire 2005. “The office market has primarily been driven by the IT/ITES sector which accounts for about 75% of the total office absorption in NCR” says Ankur Srivastava, Managing Director, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung India.
The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) has found takers for semi-developed plots in Navalpattu that have been unsold for 22 years. Over 1,000 plots between 338 to 430 sq.ft. were recently auctioned.
According to property services firm DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, rental values in Chennai's CBD area have increased during the last quarter driven by strong demand particularly from the banking and financial services sector, lack of fresh supply and vacancy rates as low as 4%.
Ahmedabad, September 01, 2006 : One more local developer is all set to join the IT park bandwagon. Calica Buildcon group plans to set up its facility near Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway under the brand name Third Eye. The group has approached the state government for acquiring SEZ status for the same.
Hyderabad, August 30, 2006: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurated a new 395,000 square feet facility on the 50-acre Microsoft campus at Gacchibowli. The new facility will host the Microsoft global delivery centre and Microsoft global services India teams.
25 acres of land have been acquired by Bhagyanagar Metals Limited for developing an IT Park and residences. The property has been bought at a reported price of Rs.83 crores raised from wholly owned subsidiaries, Bhagyanagar Properties Limited and Scientia Infocom India Limited. The diversification into property development by Bhagyanagar Metals Limited has followed rising profit margins in the field.
HCL Technologies has got approval to set up three special economic zones (SEZ) in India in the cities of Noida, Bangalore and Chennai. The company plans to invest Rs. 500 crore to set up the SEZs.
Last week, C B Richard Ellis, a global real estate consultancy firm released details of a study of the Indian real estate market. According to the study, IT and ITES companies are the ones grabbing most of the available space and creating demand for more. The rapid growth in real estate development is largely due to these firms and due to investments attracted by this sector.
Anna Salai and Nungambakkam are no longer on the growth list for commercial space. Areas occupying top spots are R.K. Salai, Egmore, Ambattur, Guindy and Porur. Commercial space is also being lapped up in city outskirts according to property consultants Trammel Crow Meghraj.
Infosys' quest for 100 acres of land at Rajarhat in West Bengal has met a price hurdle. While the IT giant is willing to cough up Rs.5 lakh to Rs. 30 lakh per acre, it appears that kind of money is not good enough to match current land prices.
The State IT Secretary Siddharth said the govt is looking for an alternative location to provide the land requested by Infosys. The proposed software centre at Rajarhat was to have employed 5000 people with an investment of Rs.250 crores.
Mumbai-based Hiranandani Group proposes to set up a 100-acre special economic zone (SEZ) outside Mumbai, subject to approvals. Approvals are not necessarily a given at this stage since there is already a surfeit of IT SEZs with 66 having already been approved so far.
A 2 million sq.ft SEZ will be created at Ganjimath in Mangalore by Nitesh Estates. The SEZ will house IT companies and plans to provide employment to over 10,000 people. Mangalore is seen as an emerging IT/ITES and BPO destination with major international investors and multinationals eyeing the city as a potential regional business hub.
Bangalore based real estate developer the Shobha group has proposed the development of a high-tech city on 300 acres of land near Kochi International Airport. The project costing Rs. 5,000 crore would create suitable infrastructure for companies from different sectors such as IT, Bio-tech, Electronics etc., to establish there. The Hi-tech city would provide employment to over 50,000 people.
The Tiruchirapalli city corporation plans to allocate 50 acres of land near Panchapur on the Madurai highway for the development of an IT Park. This follows increasing interest in developing IT infrastructure in Tier II cities in India. While the corporations investment would be in the cost of land, it could hope to gain a significant share of the profits from the real estate development.
IT major Infosys Technologies plans to expand its Global Education Centre in Mysore at a cost of Rs. 800 crore. The plans include expansion of training facilities from 4,500 to 13,500 people in a single sitting, and building of 7,750 additional hostel rooms. With this expansion, total investment on the campus would touch Rs. 1,500 crore.
APInvest has landed a major deal for the state with US financial services major Well Fargo deciding on Hyderabad as the base for its IT and BPO centre. Wells Fargo plans to set up operations in Hyderabad by October this year and employ close to 500 people.
Real estate major Unitech is set to announce India's largest real estate deal at a sticker price of well above Rs. 2,000 crore. The land deal is said to surpass earlier mega deals including Unitech's Rs. 1,568 crore Noida Expressway deal, Reliance Industries Rs, 1,100 crore Bandra-Kurla deal and DLFs Rs. 702 crore deal for NTC mill land.
Hindustan Motors Chairman, Mr C K Birla, has said that the company has sought permission from the West Bengal government to allow use of 314 acres of land at its Uttarpara plant for real estate development. The company is considering development of IT and auto components parks. Mr Birla made his comments soon after the company's AGM.
Minister for IT, Mr Dayanand Narvekar, has told the State Assembly that the Goa Government is to allocate up to 30,000 sq metres of land for construction of residential housing near the new IT Park at Dona Paula. The move is aimed at making the IT park more attractive through the development of housing for IT personnel in close proximity to the park, thus avoiding the travel times and congestion seen in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad. Requests have also been made by the IT industry to develop another IT Park at Soccoro in North Goa.
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Anant Raj Industries is to develop a 4.5 million square feet IT park to house IT industries on 25 acres of land allotted to the company in Rai Sonipat, Haryana. The IT park is planned to cover commercial, residential and a convention center and is to be ready in two years time.
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Microsoft plans to invest $150 million to set up a software development center in Pune according to the IT secretary of Maharashtra. This would be the first significant investment in the city by a major global IT company. TCS is also planning a software development center close to Hinjewadi IT Park at an investment of Rs 500 crore.
Hotmail creator Sabeer Bhatia is to develop a knowledge city , Nano City, near Chandigharh. This was announced by Haryana Chief Minister Birender Singh who is on a trip to the US. The venture is planned as a public-private partnership aimed at creating the infrastructure to develop technologies for the future.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court as cleared the way for Parasvanath Developers to sign an MOU with the Chandigarh Housing Board for development of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology park (RGCTP). The project envisages the development of an integrated residential, commercial and technology park on 129 acres of land. The Rs 821 crore award to Parasvanath was challenged in court by Emaar, the petition has now been dismissed.
RR Industries is to set up a 2.2 million sq ft IT park, RR Skyline, in the Ambattur industrial estate in Chennai. The IT park is planned on a 10 acre plot and is expected to fetch a lease rental of Rs. 50 per sq ft. The entire investment of Rs. 510 crore is to be financed by a mixture of debt (Rs. 275 crore) and equity (Rs. 160 crore). The project is slated to be completed by September 2007. RR Industries has previously developed IT facilities in the Guindy Industrial Estate in Chennai.
Information technology major, Tata Consultancy Services, is to open a $150 million IT facility in Chennai by the fourth quarter of this year according to news reports. The facility is coming up in Siruseri Industrial Park on over 75 acres of land. The first phase with a seating capacity of 3,500 is likely to be ready by the end of the year while the second phase expected by the second quarter of next year will create a seating capacity for over 20,000 people. TCS employs over 14,000 people in Chennai and services over 20 of its top 30 clients from Chennai.
India's Minister of Communications and IT, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, has said that he would like to see Chennai's "IT Corridor" extended all the way to Mahabalipuram. Speaking to reporters at SIPCOT's Siruseri IT Park, Mr. Maran said the extension would help as land prices have spiralled out of control on the first stretch of the IT corridor up to Siruseri. There is also a need for Chennai to learn from experiences in Bangalore and provide housing near the IT Corridor.
The Kerala High Court has given the go ahead for the Kerala Government to sign an agreement with Dubai Internet City for development of the Rs.15 billion "Smart City" in Kochi. The signing had been delayed because of the assemmbly polls and an Election commission directive.
According to an MOU signed earlier, the government would hand over the existing Infopark at a cost of approximately $22 million, 136 acres of land at approximately $600,000 per acre and another 100 acres of land on a 99-year lease free of cost.
The high-tech industry is significantly driving volumes and pushing up business across other sectors like real estate & construction according to Nasscom, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT software and services industry in India.
In the current financial year, the IT/ITES sectors is likely to account for 8,900 hotel rooms per day compared to 7,000 rooms per day last year. This number could swell to 30,000 rooms per day by 2011/12. Similarly the IT/ITES sector is expected to account for an year-on-year`incremental' real estate and construction demand of 14.7 million square feet this fiscal, and this number could rise to 53.6 million square feet by 2011/12.