Tag Archives: Special Economic Zone

Twenty-three New SEZs Cleared

August 2, 2008 – 7:17 am

New Delhi:The Center cleared twenty-three new special economic zones (SEZs), including seventeen projects for setting up information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) zones, besides giving in-principal approval to six proposals.
The Board of Approval of the Special Economic Zones, headed by Union Commerce Secretary G. K. Pillai, considered a total of thirty-four SEZ proposals, including three proposals for conversion of in-principle approvals into formal approvals.
It cleared four IT and ITeS Special Economic Zones in Kerala that would be set up by the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd., while two IT, ITeS and electronic hardware SEZs of Godrej Real Estate Private Ltd. and S2tech.com Private Ltd. were approved in Andhra Pradesh.

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Parsvnath seeks stake sale in projects to control debt

July 31, 2008 – 11:07 am

Real estate firm Parsvnath Developers Ltd expects stake dilution in individual projects to help it control its debt and hold margins in a rising interest rate regime, a top official said.
The New Delhi-based developer reported a 16% drop in first quarter net profit at 712.9 million rupees. Net sales were also disappointing, up just 5% from a year ago, to 3.65 billion rupees.
“The bottomline was down because of higher interest costs and input costs,” Chairman Pradeep Jain said.
Parsvnath was mainly hit by a more than five-fold rise in its interest burden to 174 million rupees. The company is currently carrying debt of about 17 billion rupees, compared to 10 billion rupees a year ago, when interest costs were also lower by a third.
India’s central bank this week raised a key lending rate for the second time in two months, to a seven-year high, as part of efforts to cool down the economy and curb double-digit inflation. Banks have reacted by pushing up lending rates to customers to their highest in almost a decade.
Real estate developers in India have been hit by the rising rates as they struggle to cope with a large number of unfinished projects, but are faced with sharply lower demand as high rates bite property buyers dependent on home loans for funds.
“Our average cost of borrowing is 12.85% and has risen about 20 basis points in the last three months,” Jain said, adding that his firm is currently borrowing at rates in the 13.5-14% range.
“We are trying to reduce debt. We are looking at equity dilution in our SEZ (special economic zone) and hotel projects for this,” Jain said, adding the company was in talks with a few partners for due diligence.
Earlier this year, Parsvnath sold 30% in a Mumbai project to two real estate funds for 1.86 billion rupees. Several other large developers have also leaned on private equity deals in the past year, to unlock value in ongoing projects.
Parsvnath shares ended at 111.75 rupees, down 0.9% in a firm Mumbai market that ended 0.5% higher.

By manish | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Landmark Ready For Pune-based SEZ Project

June 30, 2008 – 6:39 am

Landmark Land Holdings Pvt Ltd, the real estate investment arm of the Dalmia group, has acquired 10 % equity stake in an Integrated Township and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project at Hinjewadi, Pune, being developed by Kumar Builders.

The proposed SEZ will be established in 124 acres of land, adjacent to the Rajiv Gandhi Software Technology Park at Hinjewadi, a Landmark release on 30th june said. The project is likely to generate revenues in excess of one billion dollar.

However, the company did not specify the size of the deal. Landmark will have an option to increase its stake to 49 % in the future.

Landmark has 20 ongoing projects under development, which have a sales value of five billion dollar.

By manish | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Indian Company Plans IT Park In Lanka

June 12, 2008 – 2:19 am

City-based real estate developer PS Group is setting up an IT park in Sri Lanka with an investment of $80.4 million.
The company has entered into a joint venture with Sri Lanka Institute of Technology and Infinity Parks Ltd, another city-based real estate company, to develop this project.
Mr. Pradip Chopra, chairman and managing director of PS Group, said, “This is our first international project and we feel there are lots of such opportunities in neighboring countries. This IT park project will provide direct and indirect employment to 20000 and 80000, respectively”. Read More »

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

BPTP Pays Rs 1000 Crore For Noida Project

June 10, 2008 – 12:57 am

Real estate developer BPTP Group has paid Rs 1000 crore to the Noida authorities as the first instalment for its ambitious 95-acre project.

The privately held developer said that the rest of the payment, of Rs 250 crore, would be made very soon.

DNA Money had last week reported about BPTP making the payment early this week. Read More »

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Infopark in Kochi By Brigade

May 9, 2008 – 4:11 am

Brigade Enterprises, a Bangalore-based real estate developer, has bagged 5 acres in Kochi to build up IT office space. The company acquired the land in the processing area of Kochi’s Info Park Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Government of Kerala will develop IT Park in Kochi which will be known as Info park. For the project, the government has transferred hundred acres of land which is at present under the ownership of Info parks Kerala, an independent society owned by the state government.
“We have just got the bid and it is under the planning junctures to establish the price of the project. The built-up area is likely to be just about 4-5 lakh sq feet of IT office space and Brigade will co-develop the space along with Info Park, Kochi,” a senior Brigade company official said.
IT office project investment in Kochi is part of the company’s expansion plans in South India. The company all these years had been focusing only in Bangalore and Mysore, catering to IT and BPO sectors.
“This is for the first time we are increasing our base after having gained enough knowledge and expertise in managing a large number of domestic and global firms as our clients,” the official said.

By manish | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Mahindra, Billimoria To Develop MIHAN

May 6, 2008 – 7:25 am

Mahindra Lifespaces and B E Billimoria have won a bid to develop a 25 acre residential project at Multi-modal Internal Hub Airport (MIHAN) at Nagpur. The consortium will form a special purpose vehicle to implement the project with Mahindra Lifespaces holding 70% stake and 30% equity stake held by B E Billimoria. Read More »

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Finolex To Sell Pune SEZ Land For Rs 400 Crore

May 6, 2008 – 7:24 am

Finolex Industries has planned to sell off its special economic zone plot at Chinchwad near Pune. It is close to signing a deal with a US-based developer to sell the land for four hundred crore rupees.

The 950 crore rupees maker of PVC pipes and fittings had been weighing two options for the 78 acre plot, either to develop it as an information technology SEZ or dispose it off completely and unlock the value of the land.

The company is about to finalizing the details of the property. Talks with companies in the US is also going on. Read More »

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Finolex To Sell Pune SEZ Land

May 6, 2008 – 2:47 am

MUMBAI: Finolex Industries, part of the diversified Finolex group, has decided to sell off its special economic zone (SEZ) plot at Chinchwad near Pune. It is close to signing a deal with a US-based developer to sell the land for between Rs 350 -400 crore.
For close to a year, the nine hundred fifty crore rupees maker of PVC pipes and fittings had been weighing two options for the seventy eight acre plot — either to develop it as an information technology SEZ or dispose it off completely and release the value of the land.
A source close to the company said: “We were previously in talks with companies in the Middle East and the United States to jointly develop an IT SEZ there, but the management has finally decided to dispose it of.”
He said the company is very close to finalizing the details of the property and an declaration will be made within a week. He, however, did not divulge the name of the US-based developer.
When contacted, a senior company official said Finolex is still talking to companies in the US and an announcement will be made as soon as a firm decision is taken. “It is a sensitive matter and we cannot divulge the developments,” he said.
Around a year ago, Finolex Industries was talking to Tishman Speyer India Ventures, a company engaged in real estate development, for the sale of land. However, the deal had to be called off.
Tishman Speyer India Ventures is a 50:50 joint venture between Tishman Speyer Properties, USA, and ICICI Ventures.
The Finolex official had said in December that the modalities for the sale were decided and that Finolex was sure to sell the plot to Tishman Speyer India. But the developer took a very long time to take a firm stand and eventually the deal was called off.
“Finolex is talking to a different developer this time and the deal is almost finalised. It is just a matter of time,” he said.

By manish | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Mahindra’s Jaipur SEZ To Become Partly Operational From July

April 26, 2008 – 8:57 am

The Special Economic Zone being developed by Mahindras at Jaipur will become partly operational in July with first group of clients moving in, a top official said on Friday.

Mr. Arun Nanda, vice-chairman of the company told that Mahindra Lifespace Developers, the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the USD 6 billion Mahindra group, has also started buying land at Karla, near Pune, for an SEZ project.

He said that the company has managed to get a premium of 20 to 40% over the current market rate for some of its residential projects in Mumbai and Faridabad.

He said that the company has an estimated land bank of 35 million square feet across the country and expanding to new places like Nashik and Nagpur.

Mr. Nanda said that earlier people were talking about the long gestation periods faced by the company. But now onwards, the company will see far more accelerated growth. The story is now unfolding. There will be unlocking of profits.

The company has 1.5 million square feet of space under construction at present.

Referring to the SEZs, he said that the company has the distinction of promoting the first successful SEZ in private sector at Chennai, now known as Mahindra World City. The second SEZ at Jaipur is progressing well and the first group of clients, which includes Infosys, will move in in July. It would take couple of more years for the entire SEZ to become operational.

By Rajani | Posted in Property News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)