New Delhi, India, March 09, 2007 - National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited, NBCC, based on past experience, is now exploring the possibilities of purchasing land from the State Governments /Central Government /Government Bodies in various cities for development of Real Estate projects. It also expects to sell these properties at cheaper rates than the private sector builders at the same locations. The Minister of State for Urban Development Shri Ajay Maken stated this in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. He also said that the permission to undertake the Real Estate projects is covered in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company. Shri Maken stated that the NBCC has been involved in the development of Real Estate for more than a decade.
Hyderabad, November 15, 2006 - If India's much anticipated retail revolution has a start date, it could well be the first week of November 2006. On November 3, in a classic RIL move marked by scale and ambition, Reliance Retail launched 11 Reliance Fresh retail outlets simultaneously in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, firing the first salvo in what will be a keenly contested battle to win a huge prize - nothing less than the wallets of Indian consumers!
Kolkata, October 29, 2006 : Flush from the success of selling out the first three phases of the Uniworld City project in New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata, the Unitech Group is offering on sale flats in the fourth phase of this project called "Cascades".
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.
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.
Bangalore, September 24, 2006: Bangalore based infrastructure company GMT Infrastructure is to expand into real estate development across India. The company is looking at land acquisition in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata for residential as well as commercial realty projects.
Kolkata, September 22, 2006: The West Bengal government is likely to allot a 3-acre plot near Kolkata to the Bangalore-based Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), for setting up a power equipment-testing laboratory, which is presently operating in a WSEB property. The West Bengal Power ministry has requested CPRI to put in a formal application to the state government for the land and the land is likely to be allotted in Rajarhat. This laboratory will be set on a similar scale as the major ones that are in operation at Bangalore, Bhopal and Hyderabad. Future investment on this power equipment infrastructure would be 100-150 crores.
International Infrastructure Limited (IIL) has just received Rs.30 crore as direct investment from American based firm, New Vernon Private Equity. IIL is behind Globsyn Crystals, the latest infotech park in Kolkata that it jointly promotes with the Globsyn Group. The Infotech Park is the first in the country to have an attrition-free working environment. Development costs are expected to be Rs.100 crores with the project to be completed by September 2007.
Retailing icon Marks & Spencer has a new address - Avani Heights, next to Exide House in Kolkata. The 30,000 sq.ft. store on three levels will be the 10th Marks & Spencer outlet in the country.
Marks & Spencer operates in India through its franchise partner Planet Sports.
The Kolkata market has seen investment by many UK companies including HSBC, Newby Teas and Vesuvius India.
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.