I hope to discuss and update the commercial happening around the Kolkata Metropolitan area.

Ambuja Realty to set up three IT parks in Kolkata

Ambuja Realty to set up three IT parks in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Kolkata-based Ambuja Realty plans to invest over Rs 300 crore to set up three business parks in the city. While two such parks will come
up in the city's IT hub-Salt Lake Sector V-Ambuja has plans to set up the third one in Rajarhat in the eastern fringes of Kolkata.

Plans are also afoot to set up office space in Siliguri, Patna and Raipur. Ambuja Realty chairman Harshavardhan Neotia on Thursday said the company plans to start construction of new projects in couple of months. "We are in the process of receiving the necessary approvals. All the projects will be ready for possession within three years," he added.

While Ambuja plans to invest Rs 200 crore for a 5-lakh sq ft business park in Salt Lake, the second project will be set up over 1.5 lakh sq ft and will entail an investment of around Rs 60 crore. On the other hand, the Rajarhat project (1.2 lakh sq ft) is coming close to the group's existing shopping mall, City Centre II, and will bear an investment of around Rs 35 crore.

"While we will definitely target the IT sector for leasing out and sell out of space, but the parks will be designed in a way which will have appeal for all the sectors. At the same time, we plan to set up office space in three of our upcoming mixed development projects in Siliguri, Patna and Raipur," said Mr Neotia.

Ambuja Realty on Thursday announced the launch of the second phase of the group's first business park, Ecospace, in Rajarhat. The second phase comprising of two blocks will have a saleable area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. The entire project is spread over 10 lakh sq ft. Already 85% of the area in the first phase is leased or sold out to the likes of Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Bank, Voith, Thyssenkrupp, Indus Towers and Bayer Corp. "Of the total project cost of Rs 300 crore, we have already invested Rs 200 crore in Ecospace. The project will be completely ready by April 2010."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/news-/Ambuja-Realty-to-set-up-three-IT-parks-in-Kolkata/articleshow/5674392.cms

PwC bullish on Kolkata

Kolkata: India’s largest audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is growing its business in the country with Kolkata at the heart of it.

As PwC in India becomes more tuned to our global operations, said PwC chairman Gautam Banerjee, who was anointed head of the firm in December to help the firm tide over the Satyam crisis, the Kolkata practice will expand.

“Our experience has been good. Kolkata is very competitive, it has a good talent pool and the cost arbitrage is quite compelling compared to other places like Bangalore,” Banerjee said. PwC which has close to 2,000 people here wants to add 3,000 more jobs over two years. “We will begin the ramp-up from July 1,” he added.

“The Kolkata practice for instance has more touchpoints with the global firm. As we do more of our global work in India, Kolkata which already does shared services in India will get more work,” he said. PwC has a historical connect with the city, because the firm opened its first office here in 1880.

That PwC is taking India seriously is evident from the fact that global chairman Dennis M Nally is visiting Kolkata on Saturday, his third to the country in a year. It also wants to put Satyam behind it, said Banerjee, pointing out that the firm was taking extra steps to reassure clients.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/PwC-bullish-on-Kolkata/591839/

nice thread Ichi :cheers:

nice thread Ichi :cheers:

cheers

its my goal to start it for the top 6 indian cities.

Coal India to have new corporate office in New Town


KOLKATA: State-owned Coal India Ltd would have its new corporate headquarters at New Town while its current office would be turned into a museum.

Minister for Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal today laid the foundation stone for the new corporate office of CIL at the upcoming New Town in the north eastern region of the metropolis.

Speaking on the occasion he said that CIL should emerge as the biggest PSU in the country. CIL chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said that present building in which the company was located was cramped and was gradually becoming unsafe.

"So, the need arose to shift our headquarters to New Town on a sprawling 15 acre area. The state-of-the-art new office complex will be constructed by NBCC at an estimated coast of Rs 126 crore," he said.

CIL Director (Technical) N C Jha said that the present century-old building in the busy B B D Bag area, would be converted to a museum depicting 200 years of coal mining in the country.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/indl-goods-/-svs/metals-mining/Coal-India-to-have-new-corporate-office-in-New-Town/articleshow/5604596.cms

Does anyone have any renders for Coal Indian HQ?

CSE index marginally down this week
KOLKATA: The Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) lost ground marginally moving in a narrow range during the week.

The benchmark index CSE-40 was down 10.91 points during the week. It had gained 301.43 points in the previous week.

The index opened at 7,191.11 and after touching an intra-week high of 7,207.64 closed the week at 7,180.17 points.

Blueprint Securities ended the week at Rs 305.80, Larsen & Toubro at Rs 1,607.10 and Tata steel at Rs 608.30.

While Reliance Industries closed up at Rs 1,025.95, State Bank of India slipped to Rs 2,046.70. — PTI

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/32131201.htm

Nice thread to start.

On this note, does someone have a list of some of the important headquarters of industries and organizations of national and international importance located in Kolkata?

For example:
Banking:
Allahabad Bank - Corporate Headquarters
State Bank of India - Foreign Currency Exchange

Mining:
Coal India - Headquarters

And so on - to add to this list. And for Real Estate, list of Kolkata-based firms that have sufficient national presence would be nice.

Nice thread to start.

On this note, does someone have a list of some of the important headquarters of industries and organizations of national and international importance located in Kolkata?

For example:
Banking:
Allahabad Bank - Corporate Headquarters
State Bank of India - Foreign Currency Exchange

Mining:
Coal India - Headquarters

And so on - to add to this list. And for Real Estate, list of Kolkata-based firms that have sufficient national presence would be nice.

why dont we ask sun to edit the opening post and add all the stuff?

I got this off the wiki

Some notable companies Headquartered in Kolkata include ITC Limited, Bata India, India Govt. Mint, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd., Britannia Industries, Birla Corporation, Coal India Limited, Development Consultants Group (DC Group), Damodar Valley Corporation, Hindustan Motors, Bengal Peerless, Usha Martin, Jai Balaji group, Orient Airways, Exide Industries, Berger Paints India Ltd, CESC Limited, Emami Ltd. and National Insurance Company.

IOC’s Haldia unit to boost margins


Kolkata,: Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Haldia refinery expects to earn higher operational margins with the commissioning of the Rs 2,869-crore hydro cracker unit as well as the Rs 1,180-crore Haldia-Paradip pipeline.

An IOC official told FE that the margin is expected to go up by $2 per barrel of crude refined and IOC is likely to feel its impact in the coming quarter of the next fiscal.

The project work for a hydro cracker unit, which started in October 2006, was conceived as an Rs 1,400-crore project after it got the board clearance in 2005.

In fact, the oil PSU doesn’t divulge refinery-wise financial data but according to an official, the Haldia refinery has been one of IOC’s profit-making units and accounts for more than 15% of its total business. IOC operates 10 refineries across the country.

IOC’s executive director (Haldia refinery) AK Ray said ‘‘once through hydro cracker unit’’, comprising a hydrogen unit, sulphur recovery unit and revamp crude distillation unit, has upgraded the Haldia refinery’s products to Euro-IV grade.

According to a Supreme Court directive, all metro cities in India are supposed to use Euro-IV grade fuel from January 2010 and the entire country by 2011. Haldia refinery has been the first among all refineries in the country to produce Euro-IV grade fuel with its hydro cracker unit commissioned in February 26, an official said.

The unit will increase the distillate yield by 5-6% while augmenting the overall refining capacity from

6 mt to 7.5 mt per annum. This would help in increasing the refining margin by $1 per barrel, he added. Haldia refinery currently refines 150,000 barrels a day.

The Rs 1,178-crore subsurface 330 km pipeline, which was commissioned in November last year, has been giving IOC a refining margin of Rs 50 per barrel of crude refined, whose impact the company has been getting in balance sheets from the fourth quarter of 2009-2010 fiscal.

Another Rs 1,800-crore delayed coker unit, which has already got the board clearance and is now waiting Cabinet clearance, is further expected to increase the refining margin by at least another dollar, the official said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/IOC-s-Haldia-unit-to-boost-margins/592292/

Bill for corporation drainage tax

The state government wants to empower the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to impose a drainage development fee on new buildings.

The government will introduce a bill to that effect in the Assembly this week.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (amendment) Bill says “every person who intends to erect a building shall apply for sanction” together “with such fees, including drainage development fee”.

The bill also seeks to empower the CMC to assess and recover suo motu property tax of the premises whose owners have not submitted returns within the deadline. Mandatory disclosure of the financial transactions of the civic body is another highlight of the bill.

The government will also table the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (amendment) Bill, which seeks to levy tax on commercial advertisements in the upcoming Rajarhat township. The proceeds will be spent on infrastructure development.

The bill, however, exempts political parties and their “mass organisations” from paying the tax for their “non-commercial advertisements”. They will also not have to seek the civic body’s permission for putting up such advertisements. Written consent letters from the owners will do.

Though the Rajarhat township is yet to be covered by any formal municipal body, the bill empowers the New Town Kolkata Development Authority to collect the tax.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100317/jsp/calcutta/story_12224479.jsp

PwC, Ernst and Young too have their country head offices in Kolkata

Shree Ganesh to set up 2 gold refineries

Kolkata-based gold jewellery maker, Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, plans to set up two scrap gold refineries at its proposed jewellery making facilities in Mandalpada and Donjur near Kolkata. The combined investment in the two projects, each of which will have a small capacity of one-two tonnes, is estimated at Rs 90 crore.

Primarily, these refineries will process scrap gold jewellery collected from all the company’s 10 retail shops to produce pure gold. The capacities will be expanded later to process the additional scrap gold expected from a proposed 40 additional shops to be set up in two years. The company also plans to expand its retail presence across all Tier-I and -II cities and has earmarked Rs 50 crore for the exercise.

Additionally, the company, which is entering the capital market on Friday to raise Rs 360 crore, proposes to expand its manufacturing base in Manikanchan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with an investment of Rs 56 crore.

When pointed out that other refineries are operating at 35-40 per cent of their capacities, Managing Director Umesh Parekh said the company would process scrap sourced from its own retail shops and serve them. The process would add at least three-five per cent to the company’s bottom line in two years, he said.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery exports to three major gold jewellery consuming markets – Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai – that account for 90 per cent of the company’s turnover. Retail operations contribute five per cent of the Rs 2,150-crore annual turnover and, hence, has a lot of room for expansion. Retail shops will facilitate as scrap collection centres, buying the yellow metal at the prevailing market price. The company is currently focusing on the setting up of purity checking machines at each of its sales points so that sellers will get the correct value of their gold.

http://sify.com/finance/shree-ganesh-to-set-up-2-gold-refineries-news-news-kdsbO5gfgcd.html

IntraSoft IPO priced Rs 137-145 per share; opens Mar 23

IntraSoft Technologies Ltd has priced its initial public offer of 37,00,000 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each in the Rs 137 to Rs

145 per share band. The issue opens on March 23, and will close on March 26.

The company will raise Rs 50.69 crores at the lower end of the price band, which is 13.7 times the face value, and mop up Rs 53.65 crores at the upper end, which is 14.5 times the face value. The issue constitutes 25.12% of the post issue paid up capital.
At least 50% of the book build issue will be reserved for QIBs; not less than 15% reserved for non-institutional bidders and 35% reserved for retail individual bidders.

IntraSoft plans to fund the company’s requirements for branding & promotion, purchasing a corporate office in Kolkata, and investment in technology infrastructure from the issue proceeds.

CARE has assigned IPO Grade 3 to the IPO, indicating average fundamentals.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/ipos/IntraSoft-IPO-priced-Rs-137-145-per-share-opens-Mar-23/articleshow/5700674.cms

German engineering company mulls unit in city

Udit Prasanna Mukherji

Times of India

Maschinenfabrik Herkules Group of Germany — has decided to set up its first South Asian manufacturing facility in the state.
Rollshop equipment finds use in a variety of industries which include steel, auto, paper, and shipbuilding. Headquartered in Siegen, Herkules is one of the oldest engineering groups in Germany. It has floated a wholly owned subsidiary called Deutsche Maschinen India Pvt Ltd (DMI) for starting manufacturing activities in India.
DMI director P K Mazumdar told TOI that the company has acquired an unit of a local firm called Gloria Engineering to establish its manufacturing footprint in South Asia. “Our unit is in Gangarampur Road near Maheshtala on the outskirts of Kolkata. The unit will be inaugurated by the global chairman of Herkules group, Christoph Thoma,” he said.
The German firm counts Tata Steel, Hindalco, HAL, BILT, ITC, JSW and the B K Birla Group among its Indian clients. Besides, it has customers in Bangladesh who would now be catered to from the Bengal unit.

why dont we ask sun to edit the opening post and add all the stuff?

I got this off the wiki

Excellent thought. The first post can be used as a place holder and expanded. Would you in fact want to add back some of the information you got from Wikipedia etc when you get a chance? That way, it may become a 1-stop thread for reference of the reviving Kolkata's industrial position.

Apollo won’t sell stake to Parkway


India’s largest healthcare group, Apollo Hospitals, has ruled out selling its stake in the seven-year-old Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, a 50-50 joint venture with Parkway Health of Singapore. Interestingly, Kolkata-based, 425-bed Apollo Gleneagles has now come under Fortis following its acquisition of 24% stake in Parkway Holdings, a few days back.


“Apollo Hospitals is ready to work with Fortis, but is also ready to acquire the Parkway stake if the latter comes forward to sell the same in the Kolkata venture,” said Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals group.


“West Bengal in general and Kolkata in particular are our major thrust areas and we are committed to serve the people of this region with our quality services in a most cost-competitive manner”, Reddy maintained.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Apollo-won-t-sell-stake-to-Parkway/591174/

Airtel country’s largest mobile operator has come up with a competitive onnet tariff packs for its customers in Kolkata.

Airtel seems to be ushering new offers every week in Kolkata and RoWB. Yet again they have launched a new offer all the Night birds can now talk freely with the new pack priced at Rs.56 offers a whooping 560 On-net minutes which can be used between 11pm-7am.

The pack can be recharged through E-recharge option and come with zero talktime. The free minutes is valid only A2A calls at night and will be valid for 30 days.


http://telecomtalk.info/airtel-kolkata-rowb-launches-new-night-on-net-pack/22444/

Afcons bags 938 cr KMRC deal

Kolkata Mar 20 (IBNS) Afcons Infrastructure Ltd., the infrastructure arm of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, had bagged a Rs 938 crore ($206 million) deal from Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation through competitive bidding.

On Saturday, the company said that in an integrated joint venture with Transtonnelstroy Limited of Russia, Afcons will design and construct the Underground Metro from Howrah Maidan station to Central Station which will be part of the East West Metro Project in Kolkata.

The project is to be completed in 4 years time and also includes the construction of three stations at Howrah Maidan, Howrah Railway Station and Writers' Building and one crossover at Howrah Maidan.

Director (Transportation), Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, R. V. Ramanan said, "We are very happy to get ourselves associated with the Kolkata Metro Corporation through this order."

"This is the first time India a transportation tunnel project is running approximately 20 metres below a river and hence challenging. The project will be a boon to commuters travelling from Howrah to Kolkata city" he added.

According to company sources, primary work has already been initiated and boring is is to begin in January 2011 with planned rate of drilling being at 50 metres a week or 300 metres a month.

Twin bored tunnels of a total length of 2954 metres and 5.4 metres in diameter each will be drilled of which approximately 520 metres will go about 20 metres beneath the River Hooghly.

Due to the nature of the soil, a method called the Earth Pressure Balancing Method (EPBM) will be used by the Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) to drill through the earth.

At it's peak, the project will employ about 800 people.

Afcons has earlier worked on the the tunnelling of the North-South Kolkata Metro in the late eighties and has been in the in the construction and civil engineering industry for five decades.

Having completed much of the subway and underground railway in many Russian cities , Transtonnelstroy too has extensive experience in the tunnelling industry.

The final deal was signed by Sumanta Choudhury, MD, Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation and R. V. Ramanan.

http://www.indiablooms.com/BusinessDetailsPage/businessDetails200310a.php

Apollo Hospitals opens cancer hospital in Kolkata

In continuation of our journey towards our pledge for meaningful contribution to the community, Apollo Gleneagles Cancer Hospital will be inaugurated on March 23, 2010. Apollo Gleneagles Cancer Hospital is Eastern India's first comprehensive cancer care hospital which is equipped with the latest radiotherapy - Novalis Tx Unit, Chemo-therapy Unit, Onco-Surgical Unit, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit with specialized wards.

Apollo Gleneagles Cancer Hospital will be inaugurated by His Excellency Shri M. K. Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal in presence of Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare and Dr Surjya Kanta Mishra, Minister of Health & Family Welfare, West Bengal, presided by Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman - Apollo Group of Hospitals.

From now, everyday Apollo Gleneagles Cancer Care team reaffirms its focus on winning the many battles in the war against Cancer in Eastern India.


http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/health-care/2010032246242.htm

Garden Reach aims at big defence deals

Kolkata: Kolkata-based defence public sector undertaking (PSU), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) is eyeing orders worth around Rs 20,000 crore over the next few years.


These include seven stealth frigatesworth around Rs 16,000 crore.

Rear admiral, KC Sekhar, told DNA that the entire defence order of Rs 45,000 crore will be shared between GRSE and Mazagon Docks in Mumbai. GRSE is looking to bid for tenders worth around Rs 1,500 crore for various small ships and negotiating for the amphibious landing ship tanks for the navy worth about Rs 2,000 crore.

It is also looking to bag orders for fast petrol vessels for coast guards at about Rs 500 crore to be delivered by 2012.

The PSU, which mainly supplies naval ships, has been manufacturing anti-submarine warfare corvettes, to be delivered to the navy over 2001-15.

According to rear admiral Sekhar, the corvettes will have 80% indigenous manufacturing for the first time in India.

“There is a huge potential for naval ships in India, especially with private players now entering the fray,” rear admiral Sekhar said.
He added that the market is worth more than Rs 70,000 crore.

To deliver on it’s Rs 20,000-crore-order promise, GRSE expects to invest Rs 12,000 crore to procure equipment from domestic and overseas companies and around Rs 5,000 crore in services. While 50% of the funding will come from the defence ministry, the balance will be sourced from internal accruals.

He stressed that the challenge lies in timely delivery of the orders considering that it takes 3-5 years to build a single ship. Also, he underlined the need to develop ancillary vendors within the vicinity, to stop dependence on outsourcing from units located far from the manufacturing site.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_garden-reach-aims-at-big-defence-deals_1360682

Infosys to revive eastern India plan


Mumbai: Infosys Technologies, India’s second-largest IT firm by employee strength, is looking at setting up special economic zones (SEZs) in West Bengal and Assam, a senior executive of Infosys told DNA.

In Kolkata, Infosys had planned to invest Rs 500 crore to set up a development centre in 2004, housing 5,000 people. The project got delayed and in June 2009 an IT township project in Salt Lake, Kolkata was scrapped by the West Bengal government following a controversy.

However, in September the state government offered 45 acres each to Infosys and Wipro to set up development centres. But by then Infosys had developed second thoughts on the offer due to uncertainty in business environment.

Besides Kolkata, Infosys is also evaluating setting up an SEZ in Assam in the North East. “We are looking at North East to expand as well, but the problem there is of infrastructure and availability of professionals,” said the Infosys executive.

The company is looking to hire more than 20,000 professionals in FY10-11 due to improving business scenario. Infosys, which had 109,882 employees at the end of calendar year 2009, sees about 2,500 employees leave the firm every three months.

The Infosys move comes close on the heels of interest from Union government to attract investment in developing North East.
Earlier this month Sachin Pilot, minister of state for IT and communications spoke about government’s interest in developing Northeastern India. “North East can become a big centre for attracting investments from the private sector in business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing,” Pilot said.


http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_infosys-to-revive-eastern-india-plan_1362214

Uninor to enter Mumbai, Kolkata mkts in two quarters

Unitech Wireless, a joint venture between Norweigan firm Telenor and real estate company Unitech, today said it will roll out mobile services in six more circles, including Mumbai and Kolkata over the next two quarters.
"We will roll out services in 3-6 more circles over the next two quarters and we are working out the details. This will include a few metros like Mumbai, Kolkata," Executive Vice-President (Corporate Affairs), Unitech Wireless, Rajiv Bawa told reporters here.
Uninor, the mobile services brand of the company has a pan-India license and launched its service in December last year claiming a 3.55 million-subscriber base by February-end 2010. Telenor owns 67.25 per cent stake in Uninor, while the remaining equity belongs to Unitech.
It has spectrum in all the circles except Delhi.
Asked why the company did not bid for the 3G auctions, Bawa said, "As a new entrant, we would like to concentrate on voice services and data would come in eventually."
Telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices have placed their bids to participate in the auction of 3G spectrum that will allow them to offer services such as high-speed internet and video-conferencing on mobile phones.
In India, the company is targeting an eight per cent market share by 2018.

http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=665_Uninor+to+enter+Mumbai+Kolkata+mkts+in+two+quarters

The Jhawars of the Rs 3000 crore Usha Martin Group — currently out to make a name for themselves in the education space — have decided to keep the lid firmly in place as far as expansion of their venture capital business is concerned.
For quite some time now, Usha Martin Ventures — the VC entity that at one point used to have a stake in several companies, including noted HR service provider Ma Foi — has remained largely dormant and content with holding shares of the single company in its portfolio, city-based IT solutions provider Web Development Company (WDC).
Speaking to TOI on Friday, Usha Martin Ventures chairman Prashant Jhawar (who is also vice chairman at Usha Martin) pointed out that the scenario is unlikely to change in the short-to-medium term following the need to conserve resources to fuel the varied expansion plans of the diversified group.
“We have a mixed track record on this (VC investments), having exited at the right time from Melstar, for example, and probably a bit early from Ma Foi. Since we are already expanding in various areas, we will probably revisit this (enlarging the portfolio of Usha Martin Ventures) in 3-4 years, although a review would be done in 12 months,” Jhawar said. “The money (put in as venture capital) is family money and so there is no compulsion.....,” he added.
Jhawar said Usha Martin Ventures’ investment in WDC — in which it holds 18% — has already yielded several times more money than what was originally pumped in. The apprehensions that existed about the investment for several years have largely gone away now. “We are keen to grow it (WDC) to the IPO stage,” Jhawar, who has joined the WDC board, added.
However, the Usha Martin Ventures chairman conceded that the company had little option except roughing it out with WDC for many years since an exit then would have been tantamount to a “distress sale”. He did not elaborate on when Usha Martin Ventures would like WDC to be ready for coming out with a public offer.
WDC executive director Harsh Hada said the company is likely to end the current fiscal with a turnover in the range of Rs 50 crore and scale this up to Rs 80-85 crore in 2010-11. The firm plans to establish a presence in Singapore and China to expand its reach.

Source: TNN

The Satyam jinx doesn’t seem to leaving Bengal.
Now, a plan to auction the 2.77-acre plot in Kolkata that was handed over to the company when it was still under the Rajus, and subsequently returned by the new owners of the tech firm, has landed the state in a spot.
Sources said there have been no takers for the site in Salt Lake’s Sector V that the government’s IT and electronics promotion arm, Webel, had put on the block — following the Mahindras’ decision not to go ahead with a Satyam facility here — with developers finding the reserve price fixed by the authorities not in sync with market realities.
Sources said although several realtors had initially shown interest in the plot considering its location, they had not displayed the same enthusiasm when it came to putting in financial bids, with hardly anyone submitting an offer. “They had fixed a reserve price in the range of Rs 50-60 crore and included several restrictive clauses, which is why developers were reluctant to put in bids. As things stand now, Webel is left with little option, other than moderating its expectations and retendering.”
Webel MD Tamal Dasgupta, however, declined to comment on whether the ex-Satyam land had failed to elicit any bids and retendering was on the agenda. “Why are you asking me this? I don’t want to divulge our strategy,” Dasgupta said. Incidentally, Dasgupta — who used to head Wipro’s Kolkata operations before he took up the Webel assignment — was roped in by the state in the hope that his private sector experience would help Bengal present its case better to prospective investors.
“The state should make a compelling case for the ex-Satyam land considering that it is too small for an SEZ,” the sources said, while conceding that the factor working in favour for the site was that developers could build anywhere between 500,000 sq ft and 700,000 sq ft there. Norms stipulate a minimum requirement of 25 acres for a facility to be accorded the status of an IT SEZ. Under Ramalinga Raju, Satyam had announced that its Salt Lake facility would employ 2000 associates.

Source: TNN

Infosys to get 50 acres near Kolkata

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government will allot 50 acres of land to software major Infosys in New Town on the northeast fringes of the city in the

next 10 days, Housing Minister Gautam Deb said here Tuesday.

"Infosys have agreed to take land in the state. We will sit with the IT minister (Debesh Das) and Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation officials to finalise the modalities. It will be done in 10 days," said Deb.

Deb said each acre would cost Rs.1.5 crore.

Neither Infosys nor the state government have specified what the land would be used for.

Another IT company, Wipro, got 50 acres in January at the same price.

Both Infosys and Wipro had pulled out of the state after the government scrapped the IT hub project in Rajarhat last year following allegations that land sharks had been involved in acquisition of plots in the township.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/software/Infosys-to-get-50-acres-near-Kolkata/articleshow/5744021.cms

India Will Expand Government Shipyard

NEW DELHI - India's state-owned Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, is to double its capacity in the next 12 months at a cost of $87 million.

The funds for the expansion have been sanctioned by the Indian Finance Ministry.The expansion will mainly focus on increasing the capacity of the Raja Bagan Dockyard acquired by GRSE in 2006 from the Central Inland Water Transport Corporation.

GRSE built the Indian Navy's Godavari-class frigates; missile corvette, which is equipped with surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns; and a variety of patrol boats.

GRSE's order book includes Landing Ship Tanks that the Indian Navy will use for littoral warfare and a modern oceanographic research-cum-hydrographic survey vessel, a shipyard official said.

On March 29, GRSE launched three Water Jet Fast Attack Crafts built for the Indian Navy - INS Kabra, INS Koswari and INS Karuva. These ships can cut through the sea at a high speed of 35 knots (65 kilometers per hour), powered by three water jets absorbing 8,100 horsepower, a GRSE official said. The ships are also fitted with advanced main engine controls, electronics, and communication and navigation systems.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=12642

Eyeing ‘new office space'
The recent fire in an old building in Kolkata is spurring companies to look at new facilities with higher levels of safety.

Demand for space in the newly constructed high-on-amenity office buildings in Kolkata is on the rise. This is because companies, located in the age-old buildings in core business districts (CBD) now prefer to set up new facilities in buildings having high levels of safety infrastructure.

The recent outbreak of fire at Stephen Court, an old building in Park Street, has highlighted the need for safety and security measures in the CBD buildings. The fire killed over 40 people. Most of these buildings have their origins in the British era and some have been declared heritage properties.

Companies are also consolidating rental costs as the new developments offer an opportunity to lower lease out go. The rentals in the developing areas of Rajarhat and Peripheral Business Districts of Sector-Five are lower as compared with CBDs as land prices in those areas have not reached the levels prevalent in centrally located regions of the city. Companies that are planning back-offices or those which can afford conveyance for employees are therefore choosing the relatively far-flung but high-on-facility locations at a cheaper rate.

Developing areas

The new office buildings coming up in the developing areas of Rajarhat by real-estate players such as DLF, Unitech, Shapoorji Pallonji and Ambuja Realty are thus preferred over the more conveniently located CBD areas. “The demand for office space in Rajarhat is mostly from companies looking at shifting facilities to the high-amenity buildings and those looking for expansions,” Mr Abhijit Das, Joint Director, Lemongrass Advisors Pvt Ltd, said. The lack of infrastructure in the old buildings was drawing companies with expansion plans towards the high-tech facilities in the city fringes, he added.

“The very old buildings in CBD areas are mostly occupied by small companies on low rents. Though demand from this segment of companies would prevail in the old buildings, medium- and big-sized companies looking for new facilities would come to Rajarhat,” he said.

Though the demand in CBD areas was unlikely to die away, the rentals were expected to stagnate or even come down in 5-10 years' time, he said. Rentals in the CBD areas in Kolkata now range between Rs 70 and Rs 120 per sq.ft, Rs 40-55 per sq.ft in Sector Five and Rs 30-35 per sq.ft in Rajarhat.

Mr Kalyan Kar, Managing Director of the KPO company Acclaris, which has plans of taking on lease 20 lakh sq.ft at Ambuja Realty's Ecospace project at Rajarhat said, “Shifting the existing scattered facilities to the new office will help us attain economies of scale.” The work-ambience and employee amenities available in the new buildings make them more attractive over CBD buildings, he said.

The total developed office area lying vacant at Rajarhat now was about 12 lakh sq.ft, Mr Das said, adding that the total absorption in 2010 may rise to 20 lakh sq.ft. The total amount of office space taken up by companies on lease in 2009 was about 16 lakh sq. ft.

DLF has so far set up 16 lakh sq.ft of office space at Rajarhat and the whole facility was currently rented out. A second office building of 10 lakh sq.ft was yet to be filled up. The building, which was earlier a part of a special economic zone, was recently de-notified from the status to incorporate non-SEZ units. DLF also has a five-acre plot at Rajarhat on which it plans to develop more facilities.

Of the 50 lakh sq.ft of space to be set up by Unitech at Rajarhat, about 20 lakh sq.ft is ready. Nearly 5-6 lakh sq.ft in this facility is yet to be occupied. Of the 30 lakh sq.ft under construction, Genpact would take 7 lakh sq.ft in phases under build-to-suit (BST) lease agreement.

Business parks

City-based Ambuja Realty also plans to develop a number of office buildings in Rajarhat and Salt Lake Sector Five. Two business parks with saleable areas of 5 lakh sq.ft and 1.5 lakh sq.ft would come up at Sector Five while a third business park of one lakh sq.ft space would be set up at Rajarhat.

Riding on a high occupancy rate of 85 per cent in its recently launched commercial project Ecospace at Rajarhat, the company will shortly take up the second phase of construction at the project. The two phases would offer office space of nearly 9.5 lakh sq.ft. Some of the companies that have so far taken space at Ecospace are Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Bank, L&T Voith and ThyssenKrupp.

The ratio of IT and non-IT companies in Kolkata was currently 30:70, Mr Das said. While many financial companies and IT-enabled services (ITES) players were occupying spaces in the developing areas, it was long since any large scale IT-company had taken space in Kolkata, he said. The rate of vacancy in office spaces in Kolkata is currently about 40 per cent.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2010/04/04/stories/2010040450791300.htm

is sector V fully IT ?

is sector V fully IT ?

Most of it. But the there are other organizations as well like Biotech, education, banking, finance, electronics and hardware, logistics, entertainment, media etc..

Taiwan offer for tie-up - Plan to set up trade office in the city

The Taiwanese ambassador to India, Wenchyi Ong, will put forward plans for collaborations in food processing, agriculture technology and IT and seek help to open a trade office in the city during his meeting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday afternoon.

“West Bengal produces a lot of food products but there is hardly any food processing here. In India, only two per cent of the agricultural produce is processed. A thriving food processing industry will increase efficiency in the agricultural sector,” Ong, in Calcutta on a three-day visit, told Metro.

“We have presence in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat but we have no investment in West Bengal and we are looking forward to establishing trade relations with the state,” added Ong.

“If trade relations are established business would follow. The Taiwan government wants to set up a centre here next year and I am going to ask the chief minister to help us with it.”

The ambassador was quick to point out that the governments of the states in which Taiwan has invested were pro-active in attracting foreign investment and West Bengal needs to be aggressively competitive.

According to Ong, though tax, regulations and incentives would be deciding factors, West Bengal already has an edge over other states as a potential destination of Taiwanese investment because of the strong presence of the Hakka Chinese community here.

“For Taiwanese companies, finding people who know Chinese and Hindi becomes a stumbling block. The young people in Tangra who are bilingual and bicultural can become the backbone of Taiwanese companies in the state,” said Ong, who visited Tangra on Monday.

The ambassador will also discuss with Bhattacharjee the possibility of the country participating in the Calcutta International Film Festival for the first time.

Ong will meet members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and inaugurate the first Taiwan Film Festival in the state at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute on Tuesday.

Source: The Telegraph

Eyeing ‘new office space'
The recent fire in an old building in Kolkata is spurring companies to look at new facilities with higher levels of safety.


http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2010/04/04/stories/2010040450791300.htm

^^a good article on the commercial real estate summary for Kolkata. 1.6M sqft is almost 60% more than 2008. It is a positive sign for Kolkata when most of 2009 was in recession.

With 4 massive business parks such as Godrej Genesis, VideoCon IT park-phase01, Godrej Waterside - tower2 and 2-3 towers each for Ecospace and Infospace planned for completion in the next year, a large amount of office space will be created in the Sector V/New Town region.

^^a good article on the commercial real estate summary for Kolkata. 1.6M sqft is almost 60% more than 2008. It is a positive sign for Kolkata when most of 2009 was in recession.

With 4 massive business parks such as Godrej Genesis, VideoCon IT park-phase01, Godrej Waterside - tower2 and 2-3 towers each for Ecospace and Infospace planned for completion in the next year, a large amount of office space will be created in the Sector V/New Town region.

however i do hope people dont abandon the old CBD.

It needs renewal.

Mumbai is facing a similar issue with respect of nariman point and Bandra kurla complex

I personally believe that if the civic authorities can relax the FSI for the central kolkata,park street area,there is enough scope for a couple of 20 story commercial towers.Land in kolkata cbd is still not astronomical and with a large saleable space with a small footprint office space in such towers are not going to be that expensive too.
And we can clearly see,modern safe office space is in demand in the city,and if a company can get all of that with close proximity to banking and financial centres in the CBD,i think its a better proposition.

I personally believe that if the civic authorities can relax the FSI for the central kolkata,park street area,there is enough scope for a couple of 20 story commercial towers.Land in kolkata cbd is still not astronomical and with a large saleable space with a small footprint office space in such towers are not going to be that expensive too.
And we can clearly see,modern safe office space is in demand in the city,and if a company can get all of that with close proximity to banking and financial centres in the CBD,i think its a better proposition.

very true.

A was also reading that Kolkata can make full use of solar power as a city.

Those towers can certainly have the solar panels at the top so that they are self driving when it comes to electricity.

I personally believe that if the civic authorities can relax the FSI for the central kolkata,park street area,there is enough scope for a couple of 20 story commercial towers.Land in kolkata cbd is still not astronomical and with a large saleable space with a small footprint office space in such towers are not going to be that expensive too.
And we can clearly see,modern safe office space is in demand in the city,and if a company can get all of that with close proximity to banking and financial centres in the CBD,i think its a better proposition.

^^ IMO, relaxing the FSI will not lead to too much addition of space since we have hardly any space left in Central Kolkata. A better idea is to renovate the heritage buildings, leave the exterior and turnaround the interiors, similar to what is being done to buildings across Europe. It is possible only through private enterprise

Who knows ,tomorrow Park Mansions on Park Street may be a model to replicate!

All subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd have made profits in 2009-10. This has happened only for the second time in CIL’s 35-year history.
Profit after tax of the Navratna has surged more than 400% to Rs 8,312 crore in 2009-10 from Rs 2,078 crore in 2008-09. It has achieved a profit before tax of Rs 12,396 crore compared to Rs 8960 crore in the previous year. Turnover registered a 13.74% growth to Rs 52,088 crore from Rs 45,797 crore in 2008-09.
CIL CMD Partha S Bhattacharyya said that after 2005-06, all subsidiaries have made profits in the last fiscal. “There is a remarkable turnaround in Eastern Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal. Both these subsidiaries incurred huge losses last year. Closing of lossmaking mines, lowering of operating costs and higher prices have contributed to the profit,” he said. ECL has posted a profit before tax of Rs 152 crore compared to a loss of Rs 2,105 crore in 2008-09. BCCL also recovered from a Rs 1,376 crore loss in 2008-09 to register a Rs 402 crore PBT in 2009-10. Northern Coalfields had the highest PBT at Rs 3,775 crore, followed by Mahanadi Coalfields’ at Rs 3010 crore and Southeastern Coalfields’ at Rs 2743 crore.
Director (finance) A K Sinha pointed out that the average cost of production has gone down from Rs 791 per tonne to Rs 780 per tonne. On the contrary, the price per tonne has increased to Rs 1,000 from Rs 927 per tonne following the price revision.
Commenting on the target for 2010-11, the CMD said that as per the MoU with the ministry, CIL has set a production target of 461.5 million tonne and coal offtake of 462.4 million tonne for this fiscal. He said CIL would have a kitty of Rs 6,000 crore for acquiring overseas coal assets in 2010-11. CIL has shortlisted five proposals from three listed companies in Australia, United States and Indonesia. “We will start due diligence of these mines. Out of these five projects, we might have a controlling stake in three,” he added.

Source: TNN

Taiwan to open Trade Office in Kolkata (http://www.indiablooms.com/BusinessDetailsPage/businessDetails060410d.php)




-

HM in Bangla tie-up


CK Birla group company Hindustan Motors (HM) has tied up with Bangladesh conglomerate Intraco Group for distributing the CNG version of its mini- truck Winner in the neighbouring country. The two companies have entered into a distributorship agreement. A memorandum of understanding will be signed in Calcutta tomorrow, HM said in a statement.


Source: The Telegraph

^^ Hindustan Motors to export LCVs to Bangladesh (http://www.mynews.in/News/Hindustan_Motors_to_export_LCVs_to_Bangladesh_N45123.html)

Foundation stone for a 10-lane, 5km thoroughfare connecting New Town to National Highway 34 in Madhyamgram
Or a poll gimmick

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100412/jsp/calcutta/story_12328704.jsp

:nuts:

The West Bengal government’s decision to reduce the entertainment tax on Bengali films to 2 per cent from the existing 10 per cent , is expected to provide relief to the film industry.

Surinder Singh, president of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, and a leading producer, said that the move would be very good for the local industry. “Our main problem is piracy. This move will improve business.”

Arijit Dutta, one of the largest distributor-exhibitors in West Bengal, said, “This will especially help producers and distributors, but not exhibitors so much.”

According to Dutta, in the last eight years, around 40 cinemas have shut down in the state. “There will not be enough places to screen Bengali movies if standalone theatres keep shutting down. If the state government had injected this 8 per cent fund to exhibitors, it would have been especially helpful,” Dutta added.

Around 80 films were released in 2009 in Bengal, of which some 65 were commercial failures.

However, the tax benefit will not bring down ticket prices at standalone cinemas. Earlier, for a Rs 100 ticket, producers had to pay a tax of Rs 10. It will now become Rs 2. So producers now stand to make more money, but not exhibitors.

At multiplexes, tickets for Bengali and other regional language films are already 100 per cent cheaper than tickets for Bollywood films. The average ticket price for a Bengali movie is as low as Rs 50 at a multiplex in West Bengal.

Source: Business Standard

How Indian cities fared in the downturn

http://www.livemint.com/images/8627F43E-3BBB-46A7-9B5B-03B69C1F7805ArtVPF.gif



Credit growth in Kolkata was hardly affected. Bank credit in the eastern city increased by 18.9% for the year to end-September 2009, lower than the 27.1% growth it had notched up during the previous 12 months, but nonetheless a higher rate of growth than the other big cities.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/09211743/How-Indian-cities-fared-in-the.html

London bank sets up shop

Camellia Plc of the UK, which owns 74 per cent in city-based tea plantation firm Goodricke Group, is stepping up its presence in India.

Camellia’s wholly owned private bank Duncan Lawrie opened its first representative office here today. London-based Duncan Lawrie will operate out of Goodricke’s head office in the city.

“Our representative office will be marketing portfolio management services and will target high net worth clients keen to invest in companies listed on the UK and the US bourses,” Duncan Lawrie managing director P.J. Field said. Field, who is also the chairman of Goodricke Group, was here to attend the company’s annual general meeting.

“The portfolios of our Indian clients will be managed from our head office in London,” he said. The bank offers customised services mainly to high net worth individuals.

Source: The Telegraph

Essar Oil to lay pipeline from Durgapur to Kolkata

Essar Oil plans to lay a 160-km pipeline from Durgapur to Kolkata to transport gas from its CBM blocks to consumers in West Bengal.

Essar Oil has applied to the sectoral regulator, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) for permission to lay a 24-inch pipeline from Durgapur, according to the company's January 13 application to the regulator.

The company is likely to start producing gas found below coal seams, called Coal Bed Methane (CBM), from its Raniganj block in West Bengal this quarter.

The initial output is likely to be 9,000-10,000 cubic meters per day with peak production of 3.5 million standard cubic meters envisaged in mid-2013. Peak output will last for 20 years.
"In order to sell the entire production potential of the block we propose to supply CBM in Kolkata region," Shishir Agrawal, Head Essar Exploration Production Division, said in the application to PNGRB.

A special purpose vehicle would be set up for executing the project, Essar said.

Besides Raniganj, the pipeline may also be used to transport gas from Essar's Rajmahal CBM block in neibouring Jharkhand.

Agrawal said 15 test wells have already been drilled in Raniganj and 500 more are planned. "Initial estimates suggest that the demand enroute the pipeline will be about 3 mscmd."

Essar has suggested a pipeline capacity of 4 mmscmd considering PNGRB requirement of having 33 per cent excess capacity for leasing out to third parties.

"The proposed pipeline will pass along the National Highway-2 from Durgapur industrial area to Kolkata, which is highly polluted because of steel plants and the use of coal in plants. CBM gas will help in improving the environment in the entire region and in future, will be a push for city gas development in Kolkata and adjoining areas," the company said.

Essar is investing $300 million in Ranigang block that has in-place resource of 4.6 trillion cubic feet and recoverable resource of around 1 Tcf.

In Rajmahal block, where Essar has been declared provisional winner in the recently-concluded auction of CBM areas, in-place resource of 9.5 Tcf has been estimated with recoverable resource of 4.7 Tcf.

The Raniganj block is located in the industrial region of West Bengal with two major steel plants of SAIL, three existing and one upcoming power plant and a range of industries with a huge appetite for gas in the vicinity.

Raniganj is the country's oldest coal-mining zone. The block is located about 150 km from Kolkata near the steel city of Durgapur in Burdwan district.

Essar in its application listed 25 prospective consumers including Jayshree Ceramics and Bhusan Steel.


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/essar-oil-to-lay-pipelinedurgapur-to-kolkata/391011/

Jobs are back in city


Recruitment is back to the pre-downturn level in Calcutta.

The Naukri Job Speak index for the city moved up to 1055 in March from 990 in February this year. A similar sentiment is echoed in the national Job Speak index, which has been continuously moving in a positive direction in the past three months.

The key sectors in Calcutta such as IT, ITeS, insurance and construction seem to be on a positive path, a Naukri statement said.

“The hiring intentions of companies in most industry sectors seem to be moving in a positive direction as reflected by the consecutively upward moving job index in the first quarter of 2010. It seems, ‘cautious optimism’ among employers has given way to ‘definite optimism’,” Sumeet Singh, national head (marketing and communication) of Info Edge, said.

A sectoral analysis, both at the national and state level, shows an improving hiring environment in the majority of industry sectors as reflected by the rising three-month moving average index.

In March, the ITeS and the insurance sectors have seen maximum movement in the recruitment front with the index moving up 13 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, over February. Although the IT and the construction sectors have seen an 8 per cent and 1.5 per cent dip in March over February, the three-month moving average index climbed up 6.5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.

Source: The Telegraph

Spice Digital's eastern expansion

Spice Digital, the mobile Value Added service(VAS) provider, announced the opening of a larger office premise in Kolkata, augmenting its capacity to service the increasing needs of the telecom market in eastern India. Spice Digital reaches out to over 50 million subscribers daily in India, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Kenya, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

This announcement comes shortly after the company announced a host of senior level appointments to lead verticals within the organisation. The expansion is expected to significantly boost local employment in Kolkata and to help Spice Digital gain grounds in the eastern region.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/spice-digital/s-eastern-expansion/392533/

City jobs outlook rises by 16 index points (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/city-jobs-outlook-rises-by-16-index-points/392534/)

Kolkata April 21, 2010, 0:19 IST

The employment outlook for the city has registered an increase of 16 index points during the April-June period on the back of robust growth in the healthcare and pharma sectors, a report by TeamLease Services has indicated.

Nationally, while Bangalore has recorded the maximum increase of the 23 points in the employment outlook index followed by Ahmedabad at 17 points.

In Kolkata, the healthcare and pharma sector has been marked as the largest contributor (22 points) to the employment outlook for the period under consideration, followed by the information technology sector. Last quarter, the infrastructure sector had been pegged as the backbone for job growth in the city by the same report.

“Typically, the traditional sector of healthcare and pharma is been seen as a big contributor and they have seen robust growth, in terms of percentage increase. This goes to show that job growth in Kolkata is not just based on the IT and ITes sector,” TeamLease Services vice president Rajesh AR said.

According to the report, the first quarter of 2010-11 is expected to witness a gradual return of aggressive hiring. As a result, the employment outlook countrywide for the quarter has jumped by 11 per cent to 58 per cent.

Among the sectors covered, there is an increase in index points in all sectors except infrastructure and telecom. Healthcare and pharma, with 72 points, has the highest index points followed by IT with 69 points) as the overall trend for the cities. Interestingly, the marketing and customer services segment has recorded the least hirings.

On the attrition front, during the last quarter Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata saw the highest attrition rates, even as Ahmedabad witnessed the lowest attrition levels.

Additionally, barring the entry level, the intention to hire has increased, especially across the middle tier.

GRSE to double capacity by 2012

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) is planning to double its shipbuilding capacity by mid-2012.

The defence PSU shipyard will be capable of building major warships after the expansion, said KC Sekhar, chairman and managing director, GRSE.

GRSE, which has launched corvette-class anti-submarine warship in the trials before its induction into the Navy on Monday, is building three other warships in the same class. These three ships are expected to be commissioned by early 2015.

The defence PSU has increased its turnover to Rs 870 crore this year from Rs 100 crore three decades ago. “We have increased the steel throughput to more than 125 tonne per month,” Sekhar said. Its pre-outfitting has also increased to 40% after launch of the warship on Monday.

The PSU, which has produced 70 warships and 69 commercial vehicles in last 50 years, is targeting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by next fiscal.

Present at the launch of the warship, Sekhar said the corvette has stealth characteristics and low underwater noise signature. The ship has a unique hull form called ‘X-form’ which makes its detection difficult.

“The ship will be able to fight in nuclear, biological and chemical environment. It can cruise through water at more than 25 knots,” he said.

Source: Financial Express

Note:Excuse me,if this news item has already been posted..

1 Apr 2010, 0100 hrs IST,Debjoy Sengupta,ET Bureau

KOLKATA: One of the oldest and most popular legacies of British rule in India is galloping down the revival track. A pioneer in organised racing in
the country, the 160-year-old Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) is firmly in the saddle in its attempt to regain lost glory and put Kolkata back on the racing map.

The club, which in 2007 was keen on scrapping the Indian Turf Invitation Cup due to financial crunch, is now planning to give its rivals—Bombay and Bangalore race course—a run for their money by planning to introduce night racing. "If that happens, the Calcutta race course will get transformed into a major social gathering zone. In foreign countries, race courses sport restaurants and bars, as well as various outlets for social activities," an RCTC official said.

FALSE START

During 1970s and 80s, as businesses started moving out of Calcutta, so did the elites who were keenly involved in the sport. In step, owners' interest in bringing horses to Calcutta declined and trainers no more found Calcutta a lucrative destination. In tandem, stake money declined and so did the participants. A huge fire during the 70s also hit the club hard. Just a couple of years back, RCTC was somewhere at the bottom of the heap among the six turf clubs in India in all aspects: prize money, betting, number of horses and spectators.

FIGHTBACK

During 2007-08, the club management decided to enter into a lease agreement with real estate biggie Emaar MGF for a 3.7-acre Russell Street property. The Rs 300-crore deal infused a new lease of life in the club whose annual Queen's Cup race trophy is still signed and sent by Queen Elizabeth.

In less than two years, Cyrus Madan, chairman of RCTC, has steered the club out of the woods with a burst of speed that has caused heads to turn.

Talking about RCTC’s fightback, Mr Madan said: "Industry sponsors from the city plus sponsorships from a clutch of stud firms helped enhance the prize money on offer." Last year, the Calcutta Derby offered Rs 60 lakh to the winner, which is second only to Mumbai where the McDowell Signature Indian Derby, the country’s most talked-about race, offered just double at Rs 1.2 crore.

"Total prize money in a horse race, divided by the number of horses, is a fair indicator of how a club is faring. By that yardstick, RCTC is now close to the No. 1 slot" a Calcutta-based industrialist and owner of champion thoroughbreds told ET. For a club that was considered almost finished, this is quite a comeback. Interestingly, Bangalore came third with prize money varying between Rs 35 and Rs 40 lakh for its derby.

However, Mr Madan is quite modest about the achievement.

"Total prize money offered in any season in Bangalore and Calcutta is more or less the same," said Mr Madan. "As the number of horses in Bangalore is about 1,100 against Calcutta’s 600, the chances of winning here are, therefore, more. And by that logic, RCTC is perhaps ahead of Bangalore in that respect." RCTC’s 2009-10 winter racing season attracted outstation sponsors such as Casino Royal, Goa Tourism, Poonawalla Stud farm, Kunigal Stud farm and AB Stud Thoroughbred. While the Police Commissioner’s Cup was sponsored by Diamond Beverages, Assam Co sponsored the Calcutta Million Cup (2009-10). The Calcutta Derby Stakes (2009-10) Grade-I in January got handled by regular local sponsors, the B M Khaitan-owned Eveready Industries.

RACING AHEAD

"With stake money rising, Brand RCTC now offers a first-mover advantage to horse owners and trainers,” said a senior RCTC official. He added: “The logic that we sold to all was: Participate in races and your chances of winning here are higher than other turf clubs."

And today, there are nearly 600 horses and trainers of the likes of Pesi Shroff, Imtiaz A Sait and Rashid Rustomji Byramji, who’ve all set up bases in Calcutta. Galleries too have been spruced up and RCTC is now in talks with the defence department for renewing the lease of the 153-acre race course.

With RCTC’s financials looking up, ambitious plans are under consideration. Explains Mr Madan: "The state government has recently allowed four outstation betting terminals outside the city. We are also in talks with the Assam and Orissa governments for opening similar off-station terminals."

With Calcutta races happening thrice a week now—Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday—more people have started turning up to watch the races. "For the first time, average attendance at Calcutta races has started mounting, racing towards the levels scaled in Mumbai and Bangalore. From about 3,700 in 2007, footfalls have now touched 5,000 mark on any racing day," Mr Madan said. The numbers may be still short of Bangalore (9,000 spectators every day) and Bombay (7,000 every day) but the positive thing is a steady rise in footfall.

In Kolkata’s horseracing circuit, Ram Gupta is a familiar face. Having first entered the racing turf at the age of 19, today, the 57-year-old Gupta says: “It is necessary to portray horse racing as a lifestyle game and repackage the entire product. We need to correlate horse racing with other events to bring more people to the racecourse."

Source: Rediff.com - GDP: The top 10 cities in India

1. Mumbai: $209 billion
2. New Delhi: $167 billion
3. Kolkata: $150 billion
4. Bangalore: $83 billion
5. Chennai: $67 billion
6. Hyderabad: $60 billion
7. Ahmedabad: $59 billion
8. Pune: $30 billion
9. Surat: $22 billion
10. Kanpur: $17 billion

phewwww..
nice to know Kolkata still stands tall

phewwww..
nice to know Kolkata still stands tall

yup Kolkata has a very high purchase parity compared to other states

UPDATE 1-Phillips Carbon to invest 3.5 bln rupees over 2 years

KOLKATA, April 28 (Reuters) - Phillips Carbon Black (PHIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) has lined up an investment of 3.5 billion rupees to increase its total capacity to 460,000 tonnes over the next two years, a top official said on Wednesday.

Currently it produces 360,000 tonnes of carbon black annually.

"We would be adding 50,000 tonne capacity at our plant in Mundra for which the work has already started," Chairman Sanjiv Goenka told reporters.

"We are also going to set up another plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes the location for which is yet to be decided," Goenka said.

The Kolkata based firm which makes carbon black, an input for the tyre industry, expects the commercial operation in its proposed plant at Vietnam to commence during calendar 2012.

"The land acquisition is on full swing, we are expecting all the formalities to be completed over the next few weeks. So we expect the production to start by 2012," he said.

Earlier in 2010, Phillips Carbon entered into a joint venture to set up a 65,000-tonne carbon black plant in Vietnam with an investment of $63 million.

The firm recently raised 992.8 million rupees through a share sale to institutions.

"Domestic demand for carbon black is going up as new projects by tyre companies are likely to go on stream over the next 12 to 15 months," Goenka said.

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSGE63R0DM20100428?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

hmmm. since when did Hyderabad, a city of 7+ million became smaller area wise of population wise.

How Indian cities fared in the downturn
http://www.livemint.com/images/8627F43E-3BBB-46A7-9B5B-03B69C1F7805ArtVPF.gif
http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/09211743/How-Indian-cities-fared-in-the.html

You didnt get the point,the article is not about small cities,its about all cities but it just highlights the fact that small cities have done well.

CESC set to switch on Balagarh project

Calcutta, April 29: CESC Ltd has decided to revive the Balagarh thermal power project to meet the growing demand of electricity in the state.


The RPG Enterprises flagship had planned the project with a 500MW capacity in 1994 but shelved it in 2001.

The company continues to hold 800 acres of land, located on a riverine island on the Hooghly, about 70km (upstream) from Calcutta, for the power project.

Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman of CESC, today said the board had agreed to build a 660MW plant in the first phase for Rs 3,200 crore. There are plans to double the capacity in the second phase.

“We are writing to the coal ministry seeking allotment. An environmental study will be commissioned soon,” he said.

The Balagarh plant will be in addition to a 600MW unit CESC intends to build in Haldia. Taken up two years ago, the project in the port town is stuck over land acquisition.

Goenka insisted that the decision to revive Balagarh was taken to keep the company prepared for the huge power deficit that the state would face in the future.

Profit show

CESC Ltd today reported a net profit of Rs 100 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, a 6.38 per cent rise over the corresponding period last year.

Net sales were Rs 754 crore during the quarter, higher than Rs 741 crore in the year-ago quarter. The power utility reported a net profit of Rs 433 crore, higher by 5.6 per cent, for 2009-10. Net sales for the year under review were Rs 3,291 crore against Rs 3,031 crore in 2008-09.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100430/jsp/business/story_12397514.jsp

Bata to get Rs 100 crore for township venture (http://www.topnews.in/bata-get-rs-100-crore-township-venture-2260254)

Bata to get Rs 100 crore for township ventureIndia's one of the oldest company Bata India Ltd. has informed that it will entre in to a joint venture with Riverbank Developers Private Ltd. The company will receive Rs 100 crore towards upfront payment and 6.4 lakh per square feet for the upcoming project of the company. It has to build up area for a township development. The joint venture will be 50:50 between theses two companies.

The Bata India Ltd. has also announced it's forth quarter financial results. In this publication, it has mention about this restructured agreement that is going to happen soon.

The township project is located near the city of Kolkata. The Bata Company is keen on utilizing its company shoe manufacturing unit's surplus land. The company wants to develop it to a proper township.

The Riverbank Developers Private Ltd. is also having a joint venture with Calcutta Metropolitan Group Ltd. before. On the other hand Bata is also associated with CMGL for an IT SEZ. The SEZ has around25 acres of land in an adjacent area.

hmmm. since when did Hyderabad, a city of 7+ million became smaller area wise of population wise.

i dont understand your question?

what has credit growth in % got to do with population?

Its more of a general trend. In general smaller cities have fared better. Does not mean that all cities which have done well are small

Techno India in expansion mode (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/techno-india-in-expansion-mode/393755/)

he Rs 1,000 crore Kolkata-based Techno India will be investing Rs 500 crore by 2012 in the higher education sector.

The diversified group with interests in food processing, film production and health segments, has several engineering colleges.

“By 2012, we will set up 25 new campuses. Two new hospitals are coming up on EM Bypass and Barrackpore. We are also coming up with the Techno Global University in Shillong,” said Satyam Roy Chowdhury, Managing Director, Techno India group.

The group has been given 25 acres in Agartala by the Tripura government. It plans to set up engineering and medical colleges. It has also got land near the Indian Institute of Management campus in Kolkata, where it plans to set up a medical and a dental college.

Techno India set up its engineering college in West Bengal when the sector had been opened up for the private sector in the late 1990s. Some experts feel that the state has been plagued by the lack of quality engineering institutes except the top notch ones such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Jadavpur University Faculty of Engineering and Bengal Engineering and Science University. Techo India institutes are considered to be amongst the better equipped engineering colleges in the private sector. Apart from the education sector, the group plans to foray into the food processing and film production segments. Four films are lined up for production, informed Roy Chowdhury.

The group plans to take its turnover to Rs 2,000 crore by 2012 from the current level of Rs 1,000 crore. Roy Chowdhury said the group would finance its expansion both by internal accruals and by financial institutions. “About 20 percent funds will come through internal accruals and the rest will be through the financial institutions,” said Roy Chowdhury.

A day after United Airlines and Continental announced a merger, an Indian joint venture partner of United asserted that the arrangement between the global carriers is unlikely to affect its future.
Purnendu Chatterjee-led The Chatterjee Group (TCG) — which jointly runs a company with United Airlines providing software solutions and services to airlines and airports — said on Tuesday that the United-Continental deal could actually help SkyTech Solutions (the TCGUnited JV) secure more business.
“Far from the merger between United and Continental Airlines having any negative impact on SkyTech, it could in fact provide an enlarged opportunity to the company (SkyTech),” TCG president and SkyTech director Aniruddha Lahiri told TOI. “We see no reason for being worried.”
TCG holds 50.1% in SkyTech, with United holding the balance 49.9%. United Airlines is also the biggest client of SkyTech. “SkyTech gets about 80% of its revenue from United Airlines,” Lahiri said. However, he did not wish to comment on SkyTech’s turnover as it is privately held.
Incidentally, there had been speculation in the recent past that SkyTech — about which TCG doesn’t talk much these days — could see a change in the shareholding pattern. “Our intention is to remain a boutique player providing specialised services and thus you should not expect large-scale additions to headcount as some of the other IT companies. We currently have over 300 staff spread across five locations in India and the US,” Lahiri said.
The bulk of SkyTech’s employees — slightly over half the total number — are based in Kolkata. “Both TCG and United have representation on the SkyTech board,” Lahiri said, while declining to specify whether a change in composition is imminent following the United-Continental alliance. As part of the deal announced on Monday, the holding company for the combined United-Continental entity would be called United Continental Holdings and the name of the airline would be United Airlines.
Although TCG’s biggest engagement with India is through its shareholding in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), the group also has significant business interests in lifesciences, IT and realty.

Source: TNN

Usha Martin project to beat competition

Speciality steel and wire rope manufacturer Usha Martin will invest Rs 1,200 crore in a wide range of facilities to reduce its cost of production.

The company board today approved the capital expenditure plan, which will be completed over the next three years.

The new plan comes close on the heels of a Rs 2,100-crore expansion project that Usha Martin hopes to complete in the next few months, taking its speciality steel capacity to 600,000 tonnes in Jamshedpur.

“For a steelman, there is no full stop,” P. Bhattacharya, joint managing director of the company, said today. The company is braving an uncertain business environment to take up the projects.

The company will spend Rs 1,050 crore to consolidate the steel business and another Rs 150 crore to expand the wire and rope unit capacity.

The company will build a coke oven unit and a sponge iron facility along with a pellet and an ore beneficiation plant. It will also set up two power plants using waste heat.

“The projects will increase the competitiveness of our business,” Prashant Jhawar, who was nominated the chairman today, said. Prashant replaces his father Basant Kumar Jhawar who will now become the chairman emeritus. The company is fully integrated on the raw material side having captive iron ore and coal mines. New investments are aimed at making the most of the mines.

Bhattacharya said the company intended to expand its speciality steel capacity to 800,000 tonnes by putting up extra facilities by the end of the next fiscal. “We are planning to ramp up to 1 million tonnes thereafter,” he added.

Source: The Telegraph

Audi to open city showroom in a fortnight

The Lord of the Rings is here. Finally.
After a three-year agonizing wait for sedans, coupés and sports utility vehicles sporting the distinct Four Rings emblem, car enthusiasts can look forward to experience the entire range of products from the Audi portfolio.
In a fortnight, Audi Kolkata — the German automaker’s first principal dealer in eastern India — will unveil the 7,500 sq ft showroom, one of the largest in India.
Its arrival in the city will not only enable Audi to fix a vital cog missing in the firm’s network, it will also complete the presence of the German luxury troika in Kolkata. While Mercedes-Benz has been present here since 1998, BMW arrived a couple of years ago.
“Car lovers in Kolkata will soon experience a new level of auto engineering, luxury and elegance when they step into the showroom,” said Mohan Motor group chairman Mohanlal Bajaj, even as finishing touches were being given to the facility on 9 AJC Bose Road. An 8-bay service facility is also being readied off the EM Bypass.
Reaffirmed the company’s commitment, Audi India managing director Benoit Tiers. “Kolkata is not just an important city but a crucial hub for us to cater to customers based in eastern India. This new showroom, designed to give the customer a complete Audi experience, will be among the largest luxury car showrooms in the city,” he added.
The showroom in black & white theme, is designed by German interior experts and will feature Audi TV, a 24-hour live web feed on Audi products and features from its headquartered in Ingolstadt, Germany.
“While sedans A4 (Rs 27.60-36.72 lakh), A6 (Rs 38.30-46 lakh) and SUVs Q5 (Rs 39.69-45.81 lakh), Q7 (Rs 55.35-59.80 lakh) will comprise bulk of the sales, we also expect to do some numbers of top-end sedan A8 (Rs 70-75 lakh) as well as TT coupé (Rs 60-65 lakh) and sports car R8 (Rs 1.4 crore), Audi Kolkata chief operating officer Manoj Mehta said.
Bajaj is confident Audi’s entry will expand the luxury car market in the east that is currently pegged at 230 cars a year.

Source: TNN

Narayana Hrudayalaya plans dental clinics
Wednesday, 19 May, 2010

Narayana Hrudayalaya Dental Clinic (NHDC) proposes to infuse Rs 150 crore to set up a chain of clinics across the country and abroad. The funds are to be raised through debt and internal accruals.

NHDC plans to open 300 clinics, of which 30 are to come up in Bangalore and Kolkata in the next six months. Currently, Narayana Hrudayalaya has seven operational clinics of which six are in Bangalore and one in Kolkata.

KoPT proposes expansion of Hooghly operations


KOLKATA, 19 MAY: The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) have proposed an expansion of their operations in Diamond Harbour, due to decrease in navigable draught in the Hooghly river channel.
Authorities of both the organisations today said they are planning to set up their units at a particular plot in Diamond Harbour. The KoPT has identified a plot of land to set up a full-fledged container terminal where the GRSE is going to set up its unit.
Addressing a seminar organised by The Bengal Chamber this morning, Rear Admiral (retd.) KC Sekhar, chairman and managing director of GRSE, said the low draught in the Hooghly and the course of the river are adversely affecting shipbuilding. He maintained that the shipyard is constrained to undertake construction of larger ships. There is a sharp bend in the river near Sankrail sand buoy where no vessel more than 172 metres in length can be navigated. Even ships which have dimensions more than 172 metres by 23 metres, can’t pass through the lockgate at Netaji Subhas Dock. During construction processes the ships are needed to be taken out to sea several times for trials. The available navigable draught in the river is only about 5 metres. The draught required by warships with underwater dome varies from 6-6.7 metres. Because of low draught, GRSE is forced to take ships to other yards like Vishakapatnam to fit the domes, before carrying out trials. The draught restriction also prevents frontline naval vessels from coming to Kolkata for repairs and goodwill visits, added Mr Sekhar.
He said that the draught situation could be improved through continuous dredging at places like Auckland, Birlapur, Raipur, Nainan and Noorpur and diverting the tidal flow through navigable channels.
He maintained that this problems would be solved if it can set up their unit at Diamond Harbour. GRSE is undergoing a modernisation and the Navy plans to place more orders with the shipyard. This could include a nearly Rs 24,000 crore order for stealth frigates.
At the same time, KoPT could also do with the 9 metres draught at Diamond Harbour. As both the organisation are competing for the same plot of land, Mr Anindya Majumdar, officiating chairman of KoPT said, both the organisations can share the land to expand their operations.
Mr Majumdar said port facility at Diamond Harbour will come up within 2-3 years. It is already connected to Kolkata by railway and the movement of containers will be easier. Port facilities at Sagar Island can be developed only after it is connected to the mainland by a bridge, which will take some time,he added.
He also said that poor understanding of the Hooghly river at the highest levels has resulted the present situation of Kolkata and Haldia ports. Mr Majumdar said, the Hooghly is a difficult and sometimes a treacherous river. Like other riverine ports, the Kolkata and Haldia ports also have to face some challenges, but recently the situation turned into an alarming one. There is no simple solution.
He said the major causes resulting in fall of draught in the navigation channels are ~ a drop in the supply of water (due to the water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh) and erosion of riverbanks. Most of the riverine ports across the world have successfully overcome the problems and KoPT would have to take lessons from them, he added.
He pointed to how projects undertaken earlier remained incomplete. In some cases, no follow-up action was undertaken, resulting in reversal of any improvement that may have been achieved.

Orissa firm to invest Rs 100 cr in Bengal


KOLKATA, 20 MAY: Ortel Communication Limited, a broadband and cable service provider of Orissa, will invest Rs 100 crore in West Bengal in the next three years. Mr Bibhu Prasad Rath, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the company, said the company has already introduced the broadband and cable services in Salt Lake area and soon they will expand their network in other parts of the city.
Mr Rath said the company is providing high speed broadband service from 512 kbps to 2 mbps to their customers. Mr Rath also added that they will soon introduce free of cost voice services, through which one Ortel customer can communicate with another Ortel customer through a phone.
Mr Rath highlighted that they offered local cable service providers to join their business and the company will give them commission on per connection basis.

Nayachar island project website.

For a detailed view of the project, please click here www.wbpcpir.com

DLF seeks to revive its Kolkata SEZ (http://www.hindustantimes.com/DLF-seeks-to-revive-its-Kolkata-SEZ/Article1-548911.aspx)

With improvement in the sentiment in the real estate sector, the country's largest developer DLF wants to revive its plan for a special economic zone in Kolkata.

The company which surrendered four SEZ projects last June due to demand shrinkage for commercial space has approached the commerce ministry for reviving the Kolkata project, an official said today.

"The board of approval will take up the DLF request for re-notification of the SEZ in its next meeting on June 8," the official said.

The tax-free enclave, meant for the IT and ITES units, was notified in June 2008 over 10.48 hectare and at the request of the developer it was de-notified this February.

"Now, the developer wants to get the project re-notified, stating that demand for IT/ITES leasing space is showing signs of improvement," the official said, adding however, DLF's three other projects in Gujarat, Haryana and Orissa remain de-notified.

In all about 12 developers had pulled out their projects due to slowdown in the commercial space segment last year.

City software exports beat slump

Sumali Moitra | TNN

Kolkata: Exports from the city’s software technology park overcame the jitters of a global downturn to record a slight increase in the last fiscal, marginally reducing the disappointment of Bengal being unable to meet its target of emerging as one of India’s top three IT states by 2010.
Local units registered with the STPI scheme registered exports of Rs 5430 crore in 2009-10, up 6% from Rs 5129 crore posted in the previous fiscal, with the trusted trio of TCS, IBM and Cognizant again contributing to the bulk of this figure.
STPI Kolkata head Manjeet Nayak said that if one were to include an estimated Rs 1000 crore worth of exports by non-STPI units and SEZs, software and allied services exports from the city in the last fiscal actually stood at Rs 6430 crore — “something quite creditable considering that there
was the downturn to contend with”. Wipro’s Sector V facility, for instance, is a special economic zone and doesn’t report its export numbers to the STPI.
Nayak said that although TCS witnessed a dip in its exports from Kolkata in the last financial year, it was still the single biggest exporter from the city in 2009-10 at Rs 2124 crore. IBM was next, followed by Cognizant, HSBC and Tech Mahindra. “Exports in the current fiscal should hopefully be much better with the business climate improving,” he added. Incidentally, Cognizant has already started operating from an SEZ in Bantala, in addition to its existing facilities in Salt Lake.
Nayak said the STPI was in the process of working out the modalities for putting up a 7-8 lakh sq ft plug-and-play space on vacant land within its campus. Small and midsized IT firms in the city are still hoping against hope that the finance ministry may extend the STPI scheme further.

Rail, SAIL to get units of Burn, Braithwaite

The Union cabinet will soon discuss the restructuring of ailing public sector wagon makers — Burn Standard and Braithwaite.

The department of heavy industries sent its recommendations to the cabinet on May 14 for the transfer of Burn Standard and Braithwaite units to the railways and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

Burn Standard’s two wagon making units at Howrah and Burnpur in Bengal will be transferred to the railways as also Braithwaite’s three units in the state.

The southern refractory unit of Burn Standard in Salem will be taken over by SAIL. The railways and SAIL will take over the units on a clean slate basis, without any liability.

Burn Standard also has seven closed units. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprise had suggested that the seven units be transferred to Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd (BBUNL). However, Burn Standard’s officers’ union is opposed to the move. The employees have demanded a valuation of the seven closed units before they are handed over to BBUNL.

“We welcome the move of the railways and SAIL to take over the operating units. But we protest handing over the closed ones without a proper valuation,” Anutosh Banerjee, general secretary of the All India Federation of Burn Standard Officers’ Association, said.

Employees of Burn Standard have demanded that their dues be cleared before the seven units are transferred to BBUNL. The workers’ due stands at Rs 160 crore. There had been no pay revision in the last 16 years.

Land held by Burn Standard in the seven units, majority of which is in Bengal, could be worth Rs 350 crore. Burn has about 1,450 employees, while Braithwaite has 600.

The two companies have liabilities worth around Rs 1,400 crore, including accumulated losses and interests on loans.

The employees of the two PSUs are said to have met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and sought his assurance on the payment of dues. Mukherjee hails from Bengal where most of the units of both the companies are located.

In last year’s budget, railway minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that the ailing units of Burn Standard and Braithwaite would be taken over by her ministry. However, the transaction is yet to be completed.

Source: The Telegraph

Rossell to raise hotel presence

Kolkata: Rossell Tea (RTL), is looking for 4-star hotel properties in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Harsh M Gupta, executive chairman, said it has tied up with the Lemon Tree group for setting up a chain of 4-star hotels in India. RTL has already invested over Rs 300 crore for acquiring hotel properties in New Delhi, Bangalore and Aleppi.
“We have up to 40% stake in the hotel properties with Lemon Tree and the day-today management of these properties is with them,” Gupta said. Construction of its Delhi property is nearing completion.
Gupta said that the firm would consider acquiring tea gardens in Africa, although there are no such plans within India. At present, RTL has five tea gardens, all situated in Assam with about 80% of its annual production constituting orthodox tea. TNN

deleted

DLF seeks to revive its Kolkata SEZ (http://www.hindustantimes.com/DLF-seeks-to-revive-its-Kolkata-SEZ/Article1-548911.aspx)

:banana:Good news

(RTTNews) - Golechha Global Finance said that the company approved for shifting of registered office of the company to Kolkata in West Bengal from Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
M/s L. Ramesh & Associates has resigned as statutory auditors of the company with effect from April 28, 2010 and M/s V. Goyal & Associates have been appointed as statutory auditors of the company .
The company said that it approved voluntary de-listing of the shares of the company from Jaipur Stock Exchange, Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and Madras Stock Exchange.


Copyright(c) 2010 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Source: http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/news/10443/

Kolkata Reality market looks to bounce back
by Syed Ameen Kader on Jun 2, 2010


http://www.constructionweekonline.in/article-6422-kolkata_reality_market_looks_to_bounce_back/

Sushil Mohta, Managing Director, Merlin Group of Companies, speaks to Construction Week Online about the Real Estate market in Kolkata.

What is the current scenario in Kolkata in regards to construction activities and project developments?

The demand of housing is almost back on track. Prices are back to the pre-recession level or rather have gone up. We are witnessing regular sales in all our projects in all segments. The sales are absolutely normal.


There is demand for office space in Salt Lake which is a good sign. We have constructed an IT Park where 100% leasing is complete. However, in long run we do not see large requirements in Salt Lake. There will be stiff competition with developments coming up in New Town and Rajarhat.
We also see good demand for higher segment or high value property with lifestyle features.
The demand for retail space is also back. However, presently, the demand for office space is a little sluggish.

Is the socio-economic and political situation in the city conducive enough to do business there?

There is apprehension about the political situation but I do not think that will inconvenience the business of real estate. More than the political situation, the worrying factor is the poor state of infrastructure and most important is the ancient laws related to real estate industry.
There is an urgent need of a sweeping change in the legal framework related to the real estate industry. The process of town planning approval and conversion of land from agriculture/industrial to urban/vastu is very time consuming and cumbersome, and needs to be suitably amended. If these changes are not affected, the real estate prices will rise to abnormal levels.

What are the potential growth sectors in Kolkata?

The potential growth sector is in the existing Metro Route as well as proposed East and West Metro Routes. There will be growth on the National Highways like NH2, NH6 and 24 Parganas (South).

What are the major projects that you are implementing in the city currently?

We are developing ACROPOLIS, a Stadium-cum-Commercial Project in joint venture with KMDA on RB Connector near EM Bypass and Merlin Greens (Phase III), a leisure and hospitality project on Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata. We have also completed Merlin Cambridge, a super luxury 24-storeyed tower on Prince Anwar Shah Road.
In middle income group, we are completing Merlin Warden Lakeview, a 400,000 sq. ft. Project; Merlin Regency, a 200,000 sq. ft. project; and Merlin North Star, a 100,000 sq. ft. Project; Merlin Jabakusum, a 100,000 sq. ft. project.
We have two affordable housing projects under construction namely Merlin Uttara, a 400,000 sq. ft. project at Uttarpara, Konnagar and Merlin Trinoyoni, a 200,000 sq. ft. project at Behala. We are also developing Merlin Matrix, a 65,000 sq. feet IT Project at Sector V.

How the real estate market is expected to perform in coming years?

Overall reality market should be good. The prices are at realistic levels. Unfortunately, the prices of land have started increasing again. This will result in increase of price of constructed area. I can see the growth in housing for all segments and retail space in coming years.

What are the other major big infra projects that are under implementation in the city?

Major infrastructure projects by the Government are the East and West Metro Project, Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) on EM Bypass, Flyover at Paramo Island/Park Street Connector, Water Supply System in a number of municipalities, upgradation of the existing airport. These are some of infrastructure projects that are under implementation by the Government/Government Agencies.

Kolkata: Regaining lost glory
by Syed Ameen Kader on Jun 2, 2010

http://www.constructionweekonline.in/article-6421-kolkata_regaining_lost_glory/


In an interview with Construction Week Online, Srinivash Singh, MD, McNally Bharat Engineering talks about the potential of eastern city Kolkata.

What is the current scenario in Kolkata in regards to construction activities and project developments?

Currently Kolkata is witnessing three new construction projects where huge investments are being made. The new Kolkata airport is coming up at an investment of Rs2,500 crore. The East West Metro Rail is coming up at an investment of Rs5,000 crore and a 9 km flyover is being built connecting Park Circus to Eastern Metropolitan Bypass at a cost of Rs400 crore. Apart from these, thousands of apartments are under construction in Rajarhat, the New Town coming up in the Easter part of Kolkata.


Is the socio-economic and political situation in the city conducive enough to do business there?

The city has a large base of young educated boys and girls and is an ideal destination for new age industries such as IT, BPO and Telecom.
The state has been politically stable for decades. Moreover, the infrastructure in Kolkata has improved considerably over the last few years, which is attracting a number of multinationals and large groups to set up shop here. The retail segment specially has seen a boom with a number of shopping malls springing up all over the city.

What are the potential growth sectors in Kolkata?

The potential growth sectors in Kolkata are IT sectors, services sector like retail, entertainment, hospitality, real estate business and manufacturing industry such as leather, jewellery etc.

What are the major projects that you are implementing in the city?

Since we are an EPC company our activities are spread all over the country and our manufacturing activities are located in Asansol, Kumardhubi, Bangalore and Baroda. In Kolkata we have our design and engineering center and R&D activities, which are being strengthened as required

What are the other major big infra projects that are under implementation in the city?

The major projects going to be implemented in the coming years are Metro Rail extension upto Dakshineswar, Barrackpore and Barasat; the next big project is East-West metro rail; construction of the new airport; completion of Kalyani Expressway and construction of other roads and flyovers in the city.

Vesuvius expansion:

TNN

Refractory maker Vesuvius India plans to complete the doubling of its Kolkata capacity in December, managing director Tanmay Kumar Ganguly said on Thursday. The expansion of the Kolkata plant was conceived in 2004 but got delayed following the downslide in the fortunes of the steel industry. Vesuvius is investing Rs 50 crore in the project which now produces 400 pieces a day.


Hopes soar for city jewellery SEZ

Sumali Moitra | TNN

Kolkata: The city’s sole gem and jewellery SEZ is set to see an improvement in its fortunes, with diamond jewellery giant Gitanjali finally starting manufacturing operations at Manikanchan and local biggie Shree Ganesh Jewellery House further ramping up its presence at the facility.
On Thursday, Gitanjali chairman Mehul Choksi told TOI that the company has already commenced exports from Manikanchan and is in the process of scaling up operations at the site. “We currently have about 30-40 people at Manikanchan, which we want to increase to 100 in a few months,” Choksi said.
Government officials confirmed that Gitanjali — which had been taking its time on kicking off operations at Manikanchan — had undertaken some exports in April, but did not reveal the quantum. In the past, Choksi had said that Gitanjali was keen to establish a greenfield SEZ facility in Bengal.
“We have recently purchased a module of around 4500 sq ft in Manikanchan, and are negotiating for another one of a similar size where we hope to sign an agreement shortly,” Shree Ganesh Jewellery House MD Umesh Parekh said. “Once the second deal goes through, we will have about 29000 sq ft at Manikanchan,” Parekh added. Shree Ganesh is the biggest player at Manikanchan, accounting for the bulk of its exports.
Parekh said Shree Ganesh hopes to remain insulated from the turbulence in the eurozone as its major buyers are not located in these markets.

DLF picks up Rajarhat pieces

Revives SEZ It Had Abandoned Last Yr

TNN & AGENCIES

Kolkata: Real estate major DLF, which had last year pulled out of developing an IT SEZ on a 25.8-acre plot in Rajarhat, has obtained fresh sanction from the board of approvals (BoA) of the Union commerce department to revive the venture. DLF had pulled out midway through construction, citing the global downturn.
Commerce ministry additional secretary D K Mittal said in New Delhi on Tuesday : “The board of approvals has allowed renotification of DLF’s SEZ in Kolkata.” The BoA is the final authority on SEZ-related issues nationwide.
State IT minister Debesh Das was elated and felt it augured well for the industry. “It’s a very good development from the state’s point of view because it proves conclusively that the IT industry is well on its way to recovery. Since a major portion of the construction is already through, DLF should be able to give shape to its SEZ plans at Rajarhat quite quickly,” Das said.
DLF already operates another IT facility, not an SEZ, on a smaller 10-acre plot in Rajarhat. According to current regulations, an IT SEZ needs to occupy a minimum of 25 acres. Experts said DLF starting operations at the Rajarhat SEZ would help push up software exports from the state as it would be able to attract several blue chip clients.
Exports from Kolkata’s software technology park recorded a marginal increase in 2009-10 over the previous financial year. Local units registered with the STPI scheme (distinct from the SEZ scheme as there are no restrictions on space requirements) registered exports of Rs 5,430 crore in the just concluded fiscal, up 6% from Rs 5,129 crore posted in 2008-09.

Hope On The Horizon
DLF has obtained the BoA’s nod to revive the IT SEZ, which is on a 25.8-acre plot

IT minister Debesh Das says DLF decision an indication that the IT sector is well on its way to recovery

EXPERTSPEAK DLF starting operations at the SEZ will help push up software exports and attract blue chip clients

Source: ET

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has decided to initiate spectrum audit to make sure that telcos are using it in the most
economic manner possible, because it is a scarce resource. The audit will be undertaken after about three-four months, said Trai chairman JS Sarma.

The Trai chairman also said they intend to do a review of portability readiness for all telcos in the next 7-10 days. “We were told that almost all private telcos are ready for number portability, however, we need to get an update from some smaller telcos.” Mr Sarma was in Kolkata on Tuesday to attend an interactive session on telecom issues.

Portability refers to a facility where users can change their telecom providers yet retain their cellphone numbers. Mr Sarma said: “Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) had some issues relating to number portability and we now need to check if they are ready, so that number portability can be implemented by September — the revised deadline.”

Asserting the importance of using spectrum in an economic way, Mr Sarma said: “Every telco can do reasonably well with 8 MHz of spectrum in almost all places and about 10 MHz in metros.

In some circles only about 58 MHz of spectrum is available with as many as 10-12 operators, some having 10-12 MHz and some even 5-6 MHz. Telcos requiring additional spectrum needs to do a cost comparison of two scenarios — the cost of investing in acquiring a new spectrum and the cost of investing in network so that spectrum is used efficiently.”

Mr Sarma also said that a draft consultation paper on 4G and long term evolution (LTE) — technology for data speed higher than 3G, will be prepared by September end. Requirement for higher data speed over mobile will rise every nine months and telecom companies need to work on providing higher speed for users. It has also been estimated that about 300-500 MHz of additional spectrum will be required in the next couple of years but only about 200-300 MHz is available.

Tata plans Nano homes on fringes (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100612/jsp/calcutta/story_12555793.jsp)


The Tatas are bringing back Nano to Bengal — not the car but the home.

Tata Housing on Friday announced plans to build an estate of homes priced below Rs 10 lakh each, popularly known as Nano homes after the “people’s car”.

Brotin Banerjee, the managing director and CEO of the company, said he was looking for a land parcel of 60 to 100 acres within 20km of the city core for the project.

“Tata Group is committed to the state for new projects and investments. We will launch many more projects, including affordable housing called Subh Griha,” he said.

Banerjee was in the city to launch Eden Court Primo, a premium residential estate in Rajarhat with a price tag of Rs 70 lakh-plus.

The company has a 26-acre plot in the area, of which it is using only eight acres. It had acquired the plot from Hidco on a “nomination” basis for an undisclosed price.

He said there was “goodwill” between the government and the group but denied that the Rajarhat land was given at lower than the market rate after the Tatas had agreed to set up the Nano factory in Singur.

Tata Housing was to get another 24 acres in the area but the deal did not materialise. Tata Motors pulled out of Singur in October 2008.

For the Subh Griha project, Tata Housing wants to steer clear of controversy and acquire land on its own or join hands with a local partner who has land.

“We are looking at the Baruipur-Sonarpur, Kona Expressway and Dankuni areas,” said Banerjee.

Tata had introduced Nano housing project in Boisar, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The prices for 1 BHK flats measuring between 283sq ft and 465sq ft ranged from Rs 3.9 lakh to Rs 6.7 lakh. Banerjee said it would be difficult to maintain such prices as steel and cement had become expensive.

A similar project would be launched in Mumbai soon. The company intends to build four to five such townships in the next four years, including the one in Calcutta.

Tata Housing also plans to bring its New Haven housing project, where flats are priced between Rs 13 lakh and Rs 32 lakh, to Bengal.

Flats in Eden Court Primo, the premium G+23 twin towers launched on Friday, range between 1,732sq ft to 2,180sq ft. The complex would have clubhouse, swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and sky gardens. There would also be retail space of 60,000sq ft.

Brand Bengal resurfaces on big ticket investment
Ajanta Chakraborty & Suman Chakraborti , TNN, Jun 12, 2010, 05.21am IST

KOLKATA: Brand Bengal is the buzz, yet again. On Tuesday, it was DLF reviving its IT-SEZ in New Town. Three days later, on Friday, Tata (are the Singur pangs behind it?) announced a fresh project in the same area. But that's only the beginning of a revival story.

Several big-ticket investments — from realty to health and hospitality — are lined up for Bengal despite the ongoing political turmoil. In fact, none of these potential investors wants to even acknowledge the political factor. The only dissuading factor so far was the recession, they say. "And Bengal, along with the country, has come out of it. Things are fast returning to normal," said housing minister Gautam Deb, who is the chairman of Hidco, the agency that has developed Kolkata's only available land vector New Town.

"In fact, the queue for land-seekers is so long that we need to acquire land fast to meet at least some of the demand," Sourabh Das, managing director, Hidco, said on Friday.

The minister said, "Developing infrastructure for New Town is our biggest priority. For this, the government has allotted Rs 600 crore this financial year, double the amount allotted last year."

The list of wannabe investors is long. The Hyatt group has just been given six acres for their second five-star hotel. Anik Industries has also got five acres for a three-star hotel. "We have also provided land to Ohio Heart
Clinic," the housing minister said. Promoted by a group of Indian cardiologists based in Ohio (US), the Rs 80-crore project involves setting up a 200-bed hospital at New Town. Land has also been allotted for the Kohli Management University.

The "speedy land allotment at New Town" is an indication of the boom time, said Deb. Hidco has already handed over plots to 35 central government organizations, including Isro and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Another 13, including Rites, are likely to be given land after Hidco's next board meeting.

Three central government agencies — NBCC, Hindusthan Steel Construction Limited and Engineers Project Indian (EPI) — will build housing projects at Rajarhat. Another two central organizations, Sail and Tata Steel have been given 1.5 acres for their joint venture project.

Das, the Hidco MD, said, "DLF is here in a big way. So are the Tatas. We have given land to Wipro for its second complex. Only yesterday, Unitech has handed over 6 lakh square feet of space to Wipro for their New Town office."
For the moment, Hidco is not ready to provide land to individual developers. "Only a few private companies like DLF and Bengal Unitech received land some years ago. At present, only joint sector companies collaborating with Hidco will get land, other than central government organizations," said a Hidco official.

Officials said that a policy was being framed to hand over the earmarked commercial plots. The policy will specify the type of commercial establishments that could be set up within the allotted land area.

Hidco has so far reserved 10% of the 3,779 hectare land area for commercial purposes and only 3.8 % of area for IT and ITES establishments. Most of this is in the planned central business district of New Town.

Brand Bengal resurfaces on big ticket investment

Ajanta Chakraborty & Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Brand Bengal is the buzz, yet again. On Tuesday, it was DLF reviving its IT-SEZ in New Town. Three days later, on Friday, Tata (are the Singur pangs behind it?) announced a fresh project in the same area. But that’s only the beginning of a revival story.
Several big-ticket investments — from realty to health and hospitality — are lined up for Bengal despite the ongoing political turmoil. In fact, none of these potential investors wants to even acknowledge the political factor. The only dissuading factor so far was the recession, they say. “And Bengal, along with the country, has come out of it. Things are fast returning to normal,” said housing minister Gautam Deb, who is the chairman of Hidco, the agency that has developed Kolkata’s only available land vector New Town.
“In fact, the queue for landseekers is so long that we need to acquire land fast to meet at least some of the demand,” Sourabh Das, managing director, Hidco, said on Friday.
The minister said, “Developing infrastructure for New Town is our biggest priority. For this, the government has allotted Rs 600 crore this financial year, double the amount allotted last year.”
The list of wannabe investors is long. The Hyatt group has just been given six acres for their second five-star hotel. Anik Industries has also got five acres for a three-star hotel. “We have also provided land to Ohio Heart Clinic,” the housing minister said. Promoted by a group of Indian cardiologists based in Ohio (US), the Rs 80-crore project involves setting up a 200-bed hospital at New Town. Land has also been allotted for the Kohli Management University.
The “speedy land allotment at New Town” is an indication of the boom time, said Deb. Hidco has already handed over plots to 35 central government organizations, including Isro and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Another 13, including Rites, are likely to be given land after Hidco’s next board meeting.
Three central government agencies — NBCC, Hindusthan Steel Construction Limited and Engineers Project Indian (EPI) — will build housing projects at Rajarhat. Another two central organizations, Sail and Tata Steel have been given 1.5 acres for their joint venture project.
Das, the Hidco MD, said, “DLF is here in a big way. So are the Tatas. We have given land to Wipro for its second complex. Only yesterday, Unitech has handed over 6 lakh square feet of space to Wipro for their New Town office.”
For the moment, Hidco is not ready to provide land to individual developers. “Only a few private companies like DLF and Bengal Unitech received land some years ago. At present, only joint sector companies collaborating with Hidco will get land, other than central government organizations,” said a Hidco official.
Officials said that a policy was being framed to hand over the earmarked commercial plots. The policy will specify the type of commercial establishments that could be set up within the allotted land area.
Hidco has so far reserved 10% of the 3,779 hectare land area for commercial purposes and only 3.8 % of area for IT and ITES establishments. Most of this is in the planned central business district of New Town.

Upcoming projects at NEW TOWN

+ Hyatt’s second five-star hotel + Ohio Heart Clinic + Anik Industries’ hotel + NBCC housing project + HSCL housing project + EPI housing project + Kohli Management University

^^ Only yesterday, Unitech has handed over 6 lakh square feet of space to Wipro for their New Town office.”

Great news:banana: WIPRO all set to open its 2nd office in kolkata at unitech infospace along with capgemini,HCL,IBM,TCS,GENPACT.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9765/getimagedlle.png (http://img13.imageshack.us/i/getimagedlle.png/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Kolkata is booming on IT, reality and hospitality sectors again. Great news indeed:cheers:

"Brand Bengal" the new buzzword adopted by media is pretty unpredictable. When the editors and journalists are happy "Brand Bengal" goes up. When they are unhappy or upset "Brand Bengal" goes down.

Not too long ago the buzzword was "Buddha's Bengal".

:lol:

"Brand Bengal" the new buzzword adopted by media is pretty unpredictable. When the editors and journalists are happy "Brand Bengal" goes up. When they are unhappy or upset "Brand Bengal" goes down.

Not too long ago the buzzword was "Buddha's Bengal".

:lol:

It will not be easy to trash Buddhadeb's idea of reindustrializing waste bengal. Let TMC come into power face the hard reality. Perhaps a central path will emmerge! But it will be too late , by then many techies will have to leave Kolkata in search of job. And the lumpens of bengal--- they have no place anywhere , no matter whom they vote!

It will not be easy to trash Buddhadeb's idea of reindustrializing waste bengal. Let TMC come into power face the hard reality. Perhaps a central path will emmerge! But it will be too late , by then many techies will have to leave Kolkata in search of job. And the lumpens of bengal--- they have no place anywhere , no matter whom they vote!

Humble request ... Please do not use the term "Waste" Bengal for West Bengal.

I like Best Bengal.

:cheers:

Yes Bank launches NE, East operations

http://www.indiablooms.com/BusinessDetailsPage/businessDetails120610a.php

YES BANK, India’s new age private sector Bank, on Saturday formally inaugurated its North East India and West Bengal Banking operations by adding 15 Branches (10 Operational Branches and 5 Branches opening shortly), to further focus on the growing business and financial opportunities in this key region in our country.

The inauguration by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee from the flagship YES BANK Kolkata Branch at Camac Street, witnessed the presence of business leaders and industry experts from across this significant region. The Bank also announced its plans to launch 100 more branches across the country within the next one year.

YES BANK’s objective is to strengthen the financial infrastructure in the significant Northeast region & West Bengal, by establishing an extensive and robust framework of state-of-the-art branches providing comprehensive financial solutions, specifically catering to Large & Mid-Corporate, State Government entities, SMEs and Individual customers in this high-potential region.

Only yesterday, Unitech has handed over 6 lakh square feet of space to Wipro for their New Town office.”

Great news WIPRO all set to open its 2nd office in kolkata at unitech infospace along with capgemini,HCL,IBM,TCS,GENPACT.
Is it the 2nd or 3rd? Wipro have bought huge plot from the CM also in December.
And who needs Infosys?(they are most welcome if they want to come...but no smart-a** comments please) Wipro loves Bengal.

I like Best Bengal.
Me too. In any part of the Globe, I feel proud to proclaim, I am from Bengal, India.

"Brand Bengal" the new buzzword adopted by media is pretty unpredictable. When the editors and journalists are happy "Brand Bengal" goes up. When they are unhappy or upset "Brand Bengal" goes down.


Yah...it oscillates like the sensex.

Media started reporting the "investment rain in bengal" from the last 3-4 days, I think. What happened? So, all the companies started investing in bengal just after the last civic election and all the "singur and nandigram" effects are suddenly gone ;)..

it oscillates like the sensex.

^^ :rofl:

Is it the 2nd or 3rd? Wipro have bought huge plot from the CM also in December.
And who needs Infosys?(they are most welcome if they want to come...but no smart-a** comments please) Wipro loves Bengal.


Me too. In any part of the Globe, I feel proud to proclaim, I am from Bengal, India.

Also I heard,Cognizant is shifting its Technopolish office to new bantala facility.Vacant office space will be occupied by Accenture.Correct me if I m wrong.

Also I heard,Cognizant is shifting its Technopolish office to new bantala facility.Vacant office space will be occupied by Accenture.Correct me if I m wrong.

I am not sure....but I heard Accenture already has a office space in Newtown. Or is the aforesaid office their first premises??

^^Finally Accenture comes to Kolkata...thats a gr8 news...its been in news for last 3yrs that Accenture's coming!

It will not be easy to trash Buddhadeb's idea of reindustrializing waste bengal. Let TMC come into power face the hard reality. Perhaps a central path will emmerge! But it will be too late , by then many techies will have to leave Kolkata in search of job. And the lumpens of bengal--- they have no place anywhere , no matter whom they vote!

@sabya99 - It is true that many techies have left, but there are several others such as myself who are presently working in Kolkata after spending a decade outside the state. The growth of this sector here over the next decade will largely be led by expansion plans of Wipro, TCS, IBM and Cognizant who are either leasing out or have land at their disposal to build tech campuses.


And please....the oft repeated use of "Waste Bengal" and "lumpens" to refer to the common people is not good to hear.

^^Finally Accenture comes to Kolkata...thats a gr8 news...its been in news for last 3yrs that Accenture's coming!

^^the rumours surrounding Accenture's entry here never ends. I first heard they were to take up a couple of floors at Millenium City(tower2), then we heard that they plan to operate from the almost complete tower 1 of Globsyn and now we are hear they are operating from New town.

Do we have a source? Is it DLF or Infospace in New Town?

The tech sector most badly needs this company to invest in the state;

Humble request ... Please do not use the term "Waste" Bengal for West Bengal.
I am so upset with the mantal inertia of bengali babus that I use the term " waste Bengal " to express my frustation.:bash:

^^the rumours surrounding Accenture's entry here never ends. I first heard they were to take up a couple of floors at Millenium City(tower2), then we heard that they plan to operate from the almost complete tower 1 of Globsyn and now we are hear they are operating from New town.

Do we have a source? Is it DLF or Infospace in New Town?

The tech sector most badly needs this company to invest in the state;

I eagerly want to know whether Accenture has taken up space in kolkata?
Please give source info if anybody has

^^ Only yesterday, Unitech has handed over 6 lakh square feet of space to Wipro for their New Town office.”

Great news:banana: WIPRO all set to open its 2nd office in kolkata at unitech infospace along with capgemini,HCL,IBM,TCS,GENPACT.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9765/getimagedlle.png (http://img13.imageshack.us/i/getimagedlle.png/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

:cheers:

Fresh job seekers in demand!
Mamata Borthakur, Bloomberg UTV
Published on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 20:11 IST

NEW DELHI: It is that time of the year when hiring goes on full-swing, thanks to the campus recruitments happening across most colleges in the country. But how does the overall job market look for freshers? According to headhunting firm Ma Foi Randstand, one third of new jobs in the market will now go to freshers.

Hiring is back alright, but if you are a job seeker, which city should you be betting on most? By the end of June this year, Delhi NCR is expected to add 38,350 jobs, Mumbai is number two with 27,650, Chennai rounds off the top three with around 11,900 vacancies coming.

Kolkata's next with 8,350 new positions. IT hubs Bangalore and Hyderabad would add around 6800 and 6200 new jobs, while Pune and Ahmedabad will see around 5,400 and 3,260 new jobs respectively.

All in all, 1,53,564 jobs were created in the country during the Jan-March quarter and more than 3,47,463 jobs are being created in the current quarter from April to June.

While 75% of the total jobs will go to experienced hires, the remaining would be taken up by freshers.

April, May and June are the key hiring months as most jobs are created during this period every year. Thanks to the over one crore freshers, that join the job pool at this period, every year. On this front too, Delhi will see the most number of jobs for recruits with no prior experience, followed by Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

Among the sectors, although the IT-ITeS sector is likely to grow, it is neither the IT-ITes, nor the services sector that will see the most hiring. The healthcare sector is creating the most number of jobs for freshers with over 36% of new jobs earmarked for freshers.

Next comes the BFSI sector that will have almost 34% people fresh from college. The manufacturing sector will also see almost a third of its jobs being for freshers.

West Bengal will have 2 lakh jobs over the next two to three years’

The feedback that we are now receiving from the companies is that they are all back to their recruitment processes and are getting new projects so we do feel that the worst is behind us.
We fared much better than the IT hubs of the country. We didn’t have pink slips flying around, there were no closures and there was no going back to commitment on employment. We took it much better than most places in India. In 2007-08, our growth was much better, at 42 per cent. In 2008-09, it was 26 per cent. So we were not in the negative during this period.
There are a couple of things that helped absorb the shock. Those who were way above, they were the worst hit. What we keep thinking is that the work that is being done in Kolkata, especially in product development, is pretty high-end and niche. This was not very much affected by recession. Another reason is that talent is better in West Bengal, operating costs are more effective, there is a lower attrition rate. So if there is any company that is thinking of downsizing its operation, I think Kolkata will figure the last on their list because they’d want to continue because of these advantages.
If you look at Unitech, it is full, Ecospace is full. Besides, the government itself is thinking of putting up an India design centre, at a smaller scale. The main India design centre we want to build is in Salt Lake but since it is a bigger project, it might take some time and in the meantime we can have a smaller version of it.
If you look at the other IT hubs in the country, especially places in south, such as Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, they are so far away from the airport. They are at places where there is either a lot of congestion and very little scope for growth.
Whereas, if you drive down from the Kolkata airport to Rajarhat, it takes about 15 minutes and then it has a drawing board kind of a situation. You have huge empty spaces, no encroachments, well-laid out roads. All these add on to the USP. People who come with the intention of putting up their industry, they do feel the advantage. If they have to bring a client, it would be convenient as well. Fifteen minutes from the airport, some good hotels around, all make perfect sense. So it is attractive.
In terms of job opportunities, there are two to three indications. The space which is under construction, exclusively for IT, is over 20 million sq ft. so if you take of about 100 sq ft per person, you are looking at two lakh jobs over the next two to three years. Again, according to the NASSCOM report, by 2018, employment will go up four times, from two million today to about eight million. Now if you look at the other centres, Bangalore or Mumbai, it is difficult to imagine a four-fold growth. We are confident that we can keep pace with that kind of a growth. Recent surveys have all put Kolkata ahead of all the cities.
Major IT and ITeS areas...
Of course the bread and butter will be software development, and the second area will be animation.
We want to focus big time on animation and some of the biggest animation companies have realised the advantage of Kolkata over the other cities.
We have the highest number of art colleges and there is a tradition of art in this state. Now that we are in talks with some very big animation companies, if they come in here, animation will take off in a big way here. We are also thinking of having an animation park in Rajarhat.

TNN

PwC launches new entity for backoffice work
9 Jul 2010, 1519 hrs IST,IANS

KOLKATA: Auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India has launched a new entity for select backoffice operations in Kolkata alongwith PwC of Australia, Britain, Canada and the US.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers Service Delivery Centre (Kolkata) is a joint venture between PwC of these countries and it has begun operation since July 1," Ambarish Dasgupta, PwC India Director said here Friday at a press meet.

The company plans to employ 2,000 by end of 2012 in the delivery centre. At present it is employing 600 professionals.

PwC in the city employs around 1,500 people and 5,000 across the country.

The delivery centre would execute analytics work in finance, which is common in all these countries.

However, the company did not divulge any details of the shareholding pattern and investment numbers.

Titagarh Wagons acquires French manufacturing unit (http://www.mynews.in/News/Titagarh_Wagons_acquires_French_manufacturing_unit_N69773.html)

Posted On: 09-Jul-2010 10:14:34 PM Source: IANS Font Size:

Kolkata, July 9 (IANS) City-based wagon-maker Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) has acquired the assets of French company IGF Industries-Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR), a top company official said here Friday.

TWL acquired the assets and business of AFR Wednesday. 'This is the first ever overseas acquisition by TWL,' chairman J.P.Chowdhury said at a press meet.

'This acquisition is expected to have positive implications for our cost, technology and management competitiveness as we evolve from an Indian to a global player. This will help us in tapping not only the European market but global market as well.

'AFR has large number of patented designs of specialised wagons which will help the group to gain a leadership position in India,' he said.

TWL expects to turn around the acquired company through scaling up the wagon production of the plant at Douai in northern France to a level of 1,000 wagons a year, outsourcing major components and fabricated material from India and by investing in revamping the operations, Chowdhury said.

'Out of the deal size of 15 million euros, only 1.92 million euros was paid for the assets and the rest 13 million euros was actually working capital,' Chowdhury said.

It plans to invest another 3 million euros in revamping its operations including putting in robotic machines.

Titagarh is retaining 80 of AFR's 226 employees.

AFR is the only wagon maker in France. It has a market of around 15,000-20,000 wagons per annum.

Source: The Telegraph

Another grand mall to come up soon..:cheers:
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/2929/09072010001006.jpg

^^Downtown is going to be part of uniworld city. it is just what it reads. it will be the downtown area of Uniworld City.

^^yes its the mall of uniworld city!

Audi eyes 30% share in east

German luxury car maker Audi hopes to capture 30-35 per cent of the premium car market in eastern India by the end of this year.

The eastern region sells around 450 units in this segment annually.

“We want to become the leader in the domestic market, although there isn’t a defined timeline on this yet. We will have to establish our leadership city-by-city,” Audi India director Michael Perschke said here after inaugurating the company’s first showroom in Calcutta today.

Audi’s dealership has sold 16 vehicles in the city and has bookings for another 10.

During January-June, Audi recorded a 71 per cent rise in year-on-year sales in India, Perschke said.

“We have just increased our forecast from 2,300 to 2,700 units. We are looking at a record year for Audi,” he said.

The company plans to bring the Audi A8 sedan later this year to take on rivals Mercedes and BMW. “We will launch the A8 at the end of this year,” Perschke said. Audi leads the luxury SUV market in India with its Q5 and Q7 models.

The company has already announced that it would invest 30 million euros in India to build an assembly unit by 2015. The company intends to have a capacity of 6,000 units per annum in one shift.

According to Perschke, Audi will ramp up its national dealership network to 19 by 2011 from 14.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz has posted a 100 per cent sales growth in the eastern region during the January-June period. The company, which has sold 103 cars in 2009, has sold 86 units so far this year in the east.

Nationally, Mercedes-Benz has reported a 79 per cent rise in sales during the first six months of this year. It has sold 2,402 cars against 1,342 cars during the same period last year.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5815/96112929.png (http://img821.imageshack.us/i/96112929.png/)
Michael Perschke in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

TNN

Insurance companies have stopped offering cashless facilities to patients at top-end hospitals in four metros — New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai — following the unearthing of several instances of inflated claims by hospitals.
While Kolkata hospitals are not on the list yet, they may soon feel the heat as the insurers, who are working on base rates for different treatments, may roll out the scheme across the country soon.
Sources in National Insurance Company, the largest general insurer in the eastern region, said on Friday that some of the hospitals were charging exorbitant rates in case of cashless policies and the company was planning to negotiate special rates with hospitals for different treatments.
“Those hospitals that agree to the rate will get special status. We’ve already started this in four metros. Later, we might do it in Kolkata, too,” he said.
An Oriental Insurance official also said that it might negotiate the rates with Kolkata hospitals in future. “Many hospitals in Kolkata are charging more for cashless patients. We might have to do something about this later,” he said.
What’s forced the insurers to take the step is the fact that they have been bleeding badly. They are making an estimated loss of Rs 1,500 crore annually on a yearly premium collection of Rs 6,000 crore on mediclaim policies across the country, according to Pawan Bhalla, CEO of Raksha TPA, the third-party administrator (TPA), which is a facilitator between the insured and the insurer.
It was also found that customers were overcharged for each hospitalisation, irrespective of treatment, and were left with very little funds for their next treatment. “This step is intended to discipline hospitals that are overcharging customers,” said Bhalla.
Segar Sampath of the New India Assurance Co Ltd said: “TPAs have been asked to convey the fresh list of hospitals to individual policyholders as also the new packages available.” These insurers have worked out treatment packages and the lower or higher rate will apply depending on the hospital’s infrastructure.
LOSING COVER
Huge losses force insurers to stop cashless facilities at top-end hospitals in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai
Insurers making an estimated loss of Rs 1,500 crore annually on a yearly premium collection of Rs 6,000 crore on mediclaim policies across the country
Now, according to package deal worked out by insurers, hospital will be offered specific rates for specific treatments
Hospitals that agree to the rate will get special status Kolkata hosps welcome base rate move
Kolkata/New Delhi: Medical insurers are working on base rates for different treatments. For instance, hospitals that are part of the big chains charged Rs 58,000 on an average for a gall bladder operation. Now, according to the new package deal, a hospital would be offered anywhere between Rs 30,000 and Rs 48,000 for the same.
The insurers, said Pawan Bhalla, CEO of Raksha TPA, have been negotiating with the big chains for the last six months in an attempt to persuade them to accept the packages. “So far, however, none of them has responded positively, forcing the insurers to take this drastic step,” he said.
The insurers have identified Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai to start with the new package deals. Though hospitals in Kolkata have not been communicated about this development, most said a base rate was welcome. “In fact we have been proposing something like this for long. If the base rate is comfortable, we’ll definitely welcome the move,” said CMRI COO Rupak Barua.
Ruby General Hospital CEO Brigadier SB Purkaystha, however, warned that if a base rate was being worked out, it should take into account the kind of facilities at the hospital and type of treatment provided.

Monster Employment Index India edges up in June
India Infoline News Service / 14:08 , Jul 13, 2010

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of Indian online job demand based on a comprehensive real-time review of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of online job sites, including Monsterindia.com
The Monster Employment Index India rose three points in June, as online demand for workers continued its seventh month of expansion.


Online Job Availability Rises in Nine of the 13 Cities Monitored by the Index in June

Among the 13 cities monitored by the Index, Kolkata saw the largest increase in June while Chandigarh saw the steepest decline, falling by 12 points (9 percent).

Among the larger metropolitan markets, Hyderabad, with a 4 percent growth month-over-month, registered the largest improvement. Meanwhile, Bangalore saw reduced opportunities, demand edging down by 2 points.

ITC eyes Rs 23,000 cr investment over next decade
BS Reporter / Kolkata July 23, 2010, 12:48 IST
ITC has outlined major investment plans across its diversified business portfolio.

The company is likely to invest close to Rs 8,000 crore over the next 7-10 years to drive growth in this sector, a move aimed at keeping pace with the exponential growth in the sector.

The FMCG sector in India, in which the company is a major player, is expected to triple in size to over Rs 3,55,000 crore by 2018, said chairman Y C Deveshwar, addressing shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.

In the paper, paperboards and packaging business, the company is eyeing an investment opportunity of upto Rs 6,000 crore.

"At conservative estimates, India needs 50,000 rooms in the next 2 to 3 years. This sector too carries an investment opportunity for ITC of upto Rs 9,000 crore in the next 7 to 10 years to fuel its growth," said Deveshwar.

New properties were already under construction in Chennai and Kolkata and plans were afoot in several other locations.

8% growth in IT industry in Bengal
Kolkata, Aug. 3

The IT industry in West Bengal posted eight per cent growth in 2009-10, holding out the promise of 20 to 25 per cent growth in employment opportunities, according to Mr Debesh Das, West Bengal Minister for Information Technology.

Inaugurating ICT East 2010 organised by CII, Eastern Region, here on Tuesday, Dr Das said the government policies and infrastructure needed to support the growth of the IT industry were in place but what was lacking was branding and inspired entrepreneurship. The state government was providing venture capital, training subsidies, plug n play incubation facilities for start-up SMEs, he said.

Exports growth

Quoting a Nasscom report, he pointed out that the local IT industry recorded positive growth in exports at a time when Bangalore and Hyderabad posted negative growth.

He felt that more land was needed for the development of IT industry in the state as there was a demand-supply gap now. A 50,000-sq ft of dedicated IT space was being developed at Durgapur and Siliguri, he added.

According to Mr Siddharth, Principal Secretary (IT), the State's ranking in the country's e-governance was up to second position from the earlier third. He said that almost all block headquarters were now connected to IT network with 5,218 common service centres being already ready for operation.

Mr Sandipan Chakraborty, past president of CII-ER and Managing Director of Tata Steel Processing & Distribution Limited, Mr Tamal Dasgupta, Managing Sirector, WEBEL, and Mr Arup Dasgupta, CMD, Metalogic Systems, also addressed the seminar.

Quoting a Nasscom report, he pointed out that the local IT industry recorded positive growth in exports at a time when Bangalore and Hyderabad posted negative growth.
:banana:

:banana:

well, I am not sure if it is something we can go bananas about. Kolkata's IT sector is less than 1/6th the size of Bangalore and probably 30% of Hyderabad or Chennai.

^^that doesn't sound right. Kolkata's IT industry is huge. It's just that Bangalore's rag to riches story is more entertaining that Kolkata's rich to riches story.

well, I am not sure if it is something we can go bananas about. Kolkata's IT sector is less than 1/6th the size of Bangalore and probably 30% of Hyderabad or Chennai.

I think arijeetb is right as he has worked in both Bangalore and Kolkata and connoted this on his personal experience. He has had interaction also with the other two metros(Hyderabad and Chennai).

However, as Kolkata has started the race very lately, it will take some time to diminish the gap betwen it and the southern metros

^^that doesn't sound right. Kolkata's IT industry is huge. It's just that Bangalore's rag to riches story is more entertaining that Kolkata's rich to riches story.

^^If we go by whats quoted in news regarding 80k-100k IT/ITES professionals working in Kolkata/WB, it may sound decent but not in relative terms. Except for a handful of companies such as TCS, Wipro, CTS, IBM and PwC, the others are too small and local to command the scale of the very many large multinationals that operate out of the other IT cities.

How many decades do you think it will take for Kolkata to narrow the gap of 5 lakh professionals with Bangalore or 3 lakh with Hyd or Chennai??? In today's uncertain environment in the state, if someone can sell Kolkata ahead of Hyd or Blr then he must be a genius!

Rs 84,039-cr investment in Bengal

Kolkata, Aug. 6

Total investment in West Bengal in 2009-10 amounted to Rs 84,039 crore, the highest since 1981, according to Dr Debesh Das, West Bengal IT Minister. The State was third largest in terms of receiving investments, after Gujarat and Maharashtra, Dr Das said while inaugurating an ICT Summit organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Friday. Mr Jayanta Roy, President of the Chamber, emphasised the need for proper platform for IT and ITeS sector to flourish in West Bengal, and other eastern and north-eastern States.


source:The hindu business line

Is this "investment" number just the amount of the total MOUs/proposals recieved or the amount of actual money spent in completing projects?

These two projects sound interesting:

http://calcuttatube.com/forum-courtyard-kolkata-gets-high-end-shopping-hub/110570/

To make its presence felt, the group is laying emphasis on Industrial and Tier 3 towns with 2 million square feet of mixed-use development by 2012 and 3.5 million thereafter.

“On a different note, we are also coming up with Kolkata’s first million-square-feet-mall along the E M Bypass, called the PC Chandra. It’s a close 800-crore Rupees investment,” he (Rahul Saraf) said.

“And then there is Atmosphere, a luxury condominium along the Bypass again. I can tell we might have projects where we have invested way more, but this is going to be the big one,” he announced.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100807/jsp/calcutta/story_12780936.jsp

Its (Forum Projects) biggest project in the pipeline is Atmosphere on the Bypass. The set of luxury condominiums, Saraf claims, will become “the face of Calcutta”. The project will comprise villas “stacked on top of each other”, each with a private garden and lap pool.

On a different note, we are also coming up with Kolkata’s first million-square-feet-mall along the E M Bypass,

isn't South City mall already a million square feet mall?

isn't South City mall already a million square feet mall?

I have heard that it's "nearly" a million sq feet.

may be it is or not. whats good news is another destination for shoppings gonna come up :banana:

These two projects sound interesting:

http://calcuttatube.com/forum-courty...ng-hub/110570/

Quote:
To make its presence felt, the group is laying emphasis on Industrial and Tier 3 towns with 2 million square feet of mixed-use development by 2012 and 3.5 million thereafter.

“On a different note, we are also coming up with Kolkata’s first million-square-feet-mall along the E M Bypass, called the PC Chandra. It’s a close 800-crore Rupees investment,” he (Rahul Saraf) said.

“And then there is Atmosphere, a luxury condominium along the Bypass again. I can tell we might have projects where we have invested way more, but this is going to be the big one,” he announced.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/110080...y_12780936.jsp

Quote:
Its (Forum Projects) biggest project in the pipeline is Atmosphere on the Bypass. The set of luxury condominiums, Saraf claims, will become “the face of Calcutta”. The project will comprise villas “stacked on top of each other”, each with a private garden and lap pool.

Really like this guy , Rahul Saraf. He is like our own Sarafindian....loves Kolkata and wears it on his sleeve. :)

I think that all our forumers should list the malls, both, u/c and operational with locations, should list in this thread or in a seperate thread.

Here is my list:
Operational

>Forum (Elgin Road)
>22, Camac Street (Camac Street)
>South City Mall (PAS Road)
>Homeland (Bhowanipore)
>Icore Planet (Bhaowanipore)
>Gariahat Mall (Ballygaunge Stn)
>Mukti World Mall (Ballygaunge Phari)
>Spencers (Gariahat)
>Avishar (Bypass)
>Highland Park (Bypass)
>Mani World (Bypass)
>Pantaloons (Gariahat & Kankurgachi)
>EMall (Chandni)
>Orbit Mall (Gangulybagan)
>Forum Courtyard (Elgin Road)
>Brand Factory (Lee Road)
>City Centre (Salt Lake)
>City Centre II (New Town)
>Home Town (New Town)
>Axis Mall (New Town)

list of underconstruction malls:
>Lake Mall (Lake Market)
>DLF Galleria (New Town)
>Accropolis (Kasba)
>Unitech Downtown (New Town)
>City Junction (Ultadanga)
>Forum II (Bypass)

There must be many more. Guys please add on..

Haute street( byepass)

Haute street( byepass)

n dere is dis "Firangi Mall" (byepass) whch has been u/c for long....dunno wat is up wid it...!:nuts:

There must be many more. Guys please add on..

Some more U/C Malls

Forum Rangoli-Liluah

Avani riverside mall-Foreshore Road

Diamond Heritage-Strand Road

The terminus-New town

Avani Europa-Jessore Road.

Kolkata IT growth in positive trajectory

Swati Garg | 2010-08-09 01:20:00

The past year brought good news for Kolkata, as the city’s IT sector, along with Noida, registered positive export growth for 2009-10. While Kolkata’s IT exports registered a growth of 6.08 per cent, to stand at Rs 5,411 crore, as opposed to Rs 5,129 crore in the previous year, that of Noida increased by 3.86 per cent.

Other centres such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, specialising in IT exports, recorded a decline of 11.19 per cent, 15.21 per cent and 11.30 per cent, respectively.

Kolkata registered growth on the back of low input cost, a government keen on promoting the sector, along with low attrition rates and availability of trained professionals.

Tata Consultancy Services, the largest business IT solutions and consultancy provider in India, grew at 20 per cent last year, increasing head count by 2000 to about 12,500 in the city.

In terms of business growth, although no new business segments were transferred to the city, the volume of growth for existing business segments went up. Segments serviced from Kolkata such as banking and financial services, manufacturing and retail did well during the last three quarters.

In the backdrop of repeated bandhs, political turmoil and the likelihood of a regime change, a TCS spokesperson said, "We find the city ideal for IT industry, given the excellent power supply and infrastructure, and high-quality educational institutes as well as low attrition rates. Another important criterion is that the IT policy of the West Bengal is aimed at accelerating the growth of the industry."

There is also the fact that competent professionals are available in the city at costs lower than those of most other metros.

"Recession necessitated that bigger players found low-cost destinations for fulfillment of product requirements so that the overall cost of production was brought down. Although it is correct that the overall base of exports in Kolkata is low, there is also the parallel factor of skill-based growth in a cost-controlled environment that has led to enhancement of growth numbers. One finds therefore that it is companies like Deloitte and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that are ramping up operations in the city," said Kalyan Kar, managing director, Acclaris and vice-president, Sector V Industries Forum.

Deloitte has increased headcount by roughly 30 per cent in 2009 and Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) plans to create more than 2,000 jobs over the next three years in a brand-new service delivery centre in Kolkata.

There is also the factor of low attrition rate among city IT professionals. "Compared with the larger IT metros, attrition rates in Kolkata, which rose by almost 15 per cent in 2009-10, would still be at least 10-15 per cent lower than those of other cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

This could be attributed mostly to the lack of options where the IT space in terms of companies and work is concerned," said E Balaji, execuitive director, Ma Foi Management Consultants.

Escalation in growth percentages would not be indicative of the overall prosperity of the Kolkata IT sector.

For all the positive growth fractions, the overall numbers tell a story of a state trying its best to catch up. Bangalore still trumped the charts with exports of Rs 62,500 crore, Hyderabad of Rs 23,318 crore and Mumbai of Rs 40,097 crore, a far cry from Kolkata’s Rs 5,411 crore.

"There are contentions that our base in terms of investment and export is low and hence the growth is positive. One would only have to look at growth rates of others such as Bhubaneswar, and Gandhinagar to understand the fact that despite having a low base, our growth could not just be attributed to negative factors," asserted state IT minister, Debesh Das in a recent press conference.

Incidentally, exports from Bhubaneswar stood at Rs 1,023 crore, down 11.96 per cent and those from Gandhinagar at Rs 1,150 crore, a decline of 9.31 per cent.Kolkata has been selected as one of the seven cities for IT leadership by Nasscom. One would have to wait and find out if growth rates are sustainable and whether the city would be able to live up to its name of being an IT leader.

http://sify.com/finance/kolkata-it-growth-in-positive-trajectory-news-news-kijbu7cbjie.html

n dere is dis "Firangi Mall" (byepass) whch has been u/c for long....dunno wat is up wid it...!:nuts:

that's been taken up by Volkswagen for its new showroom...but thats only the first two levels, rest no clue!!!

list of underconstruction malls:
>Lake Mall (Lake Market)
>DLF Galleria (New Town)
>Accropolis (Kasba)
>Unitech Downtown (New Town)
>City Junction (Ultadanga)
>Forum II (Bypass)

There must be many more. Guys please add on..

Thank you studdmanster for the list.

Pl add "Barna Parichay" a book mall under construction, on college street

Haute street( byepass)

^^@avishar, this is along the Park Circus Connector.

It is good that malls in Kolkata are spreading their wings and several large ones are planned/coming up. IMO Salt Lake can do with another large one like CC that can be located closer to the bypass (near stadium) where people from three directions can easily access.

I kind of fell sick in my stomach yday watching the maddening crowd at South City. After that I took one hour to buy some snacks at Spencers hyper (20 mins for shopping and 40 minutes waiting in one of the serpentine queues of the 18 odd counters:nuts:)

Kolkata would also need several hypermarts to match the retail tastes/capabilities of the city.

I have heard that it's "nearly" a million sq feet.

its 6,00,000 sq feet.

Thank you studdmanster for the list.

Pl add "Barna Parichay" a book mall under construction, on college street

^^Let us not forget Spencers Galleria on Syed Amr Ali Avenue. This promises to be a signature mall with (supposedly) 800 parking spaces (2nd largest in the city) The good thing is once this comes up the chaos at South City and Forum may get some relief.

This is coming on the land owned by CESC and is located about 200 metres from Park Circus 5 points crossing. I have seen piling work going on

^^@avishar, this is along the Park Circus Connector.

It is good that malls in Kolkata are spreading their wings and several large ones are planned/coming up. IMO Salt Lake can do with another large one like CC that can be located closer to the bypass (near stadium) where people from three directions can easily access.

I kind of fell sick in my stomach yday watching the maddening crowd at South City. After that I took one hour to buy some snacks at Spencers hyper (20 mins for shopping and 40 minutes waiting in one of the serpentine queues of the 18 odd counters:nuts:)

Kolkata would also need several hypermarts to match the retail tastes/capabilities of the city.

What a coincidence arijeet, even i went to Spencers @ SC yesterday...and yes the crowd was just too much!!!...a good portion was concentrated at the place where Beat was showcased. However, last Sunday that's on friendship day the crowd was double than what u noticed yesterday, even being a rainy day!!!
went to watch 5pm show @ Fame but had to end up with 7pm show, not because of rush but a huge traffic jam from lords to SC parking!:nuts:

^^Let us not forget Spencers Galleria on Syed Amr Ali Avenue. This promises to be a signature mall with (supposedly) 800 parking spaces (2nd largest in the city) The good thing is once this comes up the chaos at South City and Forum may get some relief.

This is coming on the land owned by CESC and is located about 200 metres from Park Circus 5 points crossing. I have seen piling work going on

5-point????...r u reffering to the PC 4# xing?
Is this project of Spencers' - the supermarket Group.
Btw i forgot to mention about the Big bazaars @ Teghoria and Shealdah

5-point????...r u reffering to the PC 4# xing?
Is this project of Spencers' - the supermarket Group.
Btw i forgot to mention about the Big bazaars @ Teghoria and Shealdah

^^yes,this is a project of RPG group and is near the PC 5 point crossing.

What a coincidence arijeet, even i went to Spencers @ SC yesterday...and yes the crowd was just too much!!!...a good portion was concentrated at the place where Beat was showcased. However, last Sunday that's on friendship day the crowd was double than what u noticed yesterday, even being a rainy day!!!
went to watch 5pm show @ Fame but had to end up with 7pm show, not because of rush but a huge traffic jam from lords to SC parking!:nuts:

^^yeah, South City is feeling the pressure on the infrastructure as well. I noticed that most portions of the drive-way to the parking lot had several broken tiles and dust flowing around. Not to mention the chaos on PA Shah road starting much before Lords crossing. I have always had better experiences at Mani square and City center on weekends irrespective of the occasion.

Kolkata IT growth in positive trajectory

Swati Garg | 2010-08-09 01:20:00

The past year brought good news for Kolkata, as the city’s IT sector, along with Noida, registered positive export growth for 2009-10. While Kolkata’s IT exports registered a growth of 6.08 per cent, to stand at Rs 5,411 crore, as opposed to Rs 5,129 crore in the previous year, that of Noida increased by 3.86 per cent.

Other centres such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, specialising in IT exports, recorded a decline of 11.19 per cent, 15.21 per cent and 11.30 per cent, respectively.

Kolkata registered growth on the back of low input cost, a government keen on promoting the sector, along with low attrition rates and availability of trained professionals.

Tata Consultancy Services, the largest business IT solutions and consultancy provider in India, grew at 20 per cent last year, increasing head count by 2000 to about 12,500 in the city.

In terms of business growth, although no new business segments were transferred to the city, the volume of growth for existing business segments went up. Segments serviced from Kolkata such as banking and financial services, manufacturing and retail did well during the last three quarters.

In the backdrop of repeated bandhs, political turmoil and the likelihood of a regime change, a TCS spokesperson said, "We find the city ideal for IT industry, given the excellent power supply and infrastructure, and high-quality educational institutes as well as low attrition rates. Another important criterion is that the IT policy of the West Bengal is aimed at accelerating the growth of the industry."

There is also the fact that competent professionals are available in the city at costs lower than those of most other metros.

"Recession necessitated that bigger players found low-cost destinations for fulfillment of product requirements so that the overall cost of production was brought down. Although it is correct that the overall base of exports in Kolkata is low, there is also the parallel factor of skill-based growth in a cost-controlled environment that has led to enhancement of growth numbers. One finds therefore that it is companies like Deloitte and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that are ramping up operations in the city," said Kalyan Kar, managing director, Acclaris and vice-president, Sector V Industries Forum.

Deloitte has increased headcount by roughly 30 per cent in 2009 and Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) plans to create more than 2,000 jobs over the next three years in a brand-new service delivery centre in Kolkata.

There is also the factor of low attrition rate among city IT professionals. "Compared with the larger IT metros, attrition rates in Kolkata, which rose by almost 15 per cent in 2009-10, would still be at least 10-15 per cent lower than those of other cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

This could be attributed mostly to the lack of options where the IT space in terms of companies and work is concerned," said E Balaji, execuitive director, Ma Foi Management Consultants.

Escalation in growth percentages would not be indicative of the overall prosperity of the Kolkata IT sector.

For all the positive growth fractions, the overall numbers tell a story of a state trying its best to catch up. Bangalore still trumped the charts with exports of Rs 62,500 crore, Hyderabad of Rs 23,318 crore and Mumbai of Rs 40,097 crore, a far cry from Kolkata’s Rs 5,411 crore.

"There are contentions that our base in terms of investment and export is low and hence the growth is positive. One would only have to look at growth rates of others such as Bhubaneswar, and Gandhinagar to understand the fact that despite having a low base, our growth could not just be attributed to negative factors," asserted state IT minister, Debesh Das in a recent press conference.

Incidentally, exports from Bhubaneswar stood at Rs 1,023 crore, down 11.96 per cent and those from Gandhinagar at Rs 1,150 crore, a decline of 9.31 per cent.Kolkata has been selected as one of the seven cities for IT leadership by Nasscom. One would have to wait and find out if growth rates are sustainable and whether the city would be able to live up to its name of being an IT leader.

Source (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIKM/2010/08/11&PageLabel=3&EntityId=Ar00301&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T)

Amby planning 2011 comeback with retro look
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: The Amby simply refuses to die. The iconic car that draws its lineage from Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) and series III (Ambassador) is set to undergo the most ambitious makeover ever with heart as well as cosmetic surgery lined up to revive its sagging popularity.
Though Hindustan Motors will continue to manufacture the current Ambassador for the taxi segment, it expects the new avatar to become the bread-earner for the company in 3-5 years. “The new Amby will have a retro design and sport cutting-edge engineering to compete on comfort and value for money. Overseas experts have been roped in for the metamorphosis. The new version will be ready by January-February 2011 for test trials and is expected to undergo validation by May so that commercial production can begin next July,” chairman C K Birla told TOI on the sidelines of the AGM on Tuesday.
While the platform and overall dimensions will be retained, the exteriors will be comprehensively redesigned by auto styling experts from Europe. MD Manoj Jha said the new car will look very different from the current Ambassador. “The new car will be a sibling of the Ambassador but the change will be so holistic that it will be a completely different vehicle. Apart from the new-look retro exterior, the interiors will be revamped. It will be powered by BS IV-complaint and BS V- ready 1.5 litre and 2 litre diesel as well as petrol engines that are powerful and fuel-efficient. Overseas technology firms are working on each aspect of the car to ensure the vehicle is on a par with contemporary vehicles on Indian roads in terms of built quality and reliability,” he said.


WHAT TO EXPECT
New-look retro exterior Totally revamped and plush interiors BS V-ready 1.5 & 2 litre diesel and petrol engines
British Morris Oxford series II (Landmaster) changed to
Morris Oxford series III (Ambassador) in the late Fifties with redesigned headlamps, a dimpled hood and small ‘tail fins’ and new dashboard and steering wheel
In 2003, car was redesigned drawing inspiration from the original Landmaster. Ambassador Avigo had a redesigned bonnet and dashboard, but the rear was left untouched

Big Bazaar will open 10 outlets this year

Big Bazaar plans to open 10 new stores this year. Currently, they have 25 stores, among which 9 are in Kolkata. They will set up 3 to 4 outlets in Kolkata in the next four months. “We also plan to enter cities like Asansol, Patna and Gangtok,” said general manager, sales & merchandising (East), Manish Agarwal.

^^Let us not forget Spencers Galleria on Syed Amr Ali Avenue. This promises to be a signature mall with (supposedly) 800 parking spaces (2nd largest in the city) The good thing is once this comes up the chaos at South City and Forum may get some relief.

This is coming on the land owned by CESC and is located about 200 metres from Park Circus 5 points crossing. I have seen piling work going on

As per a corporate report in RPG website,the work should have already started at this plot.


Adda at spencer's galleria

CESC is setting up a spanking new mall in the heart of Kolkata.

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/8629/spencersgalleria.jpg


Adda is Kolkata’s life-blood. For the uninitiated, it loosely translates as a group activity, where people just hang around and talk on everything under the sun, crack jokes or simply watch
the world go by, over a cuppa. Like content, the venues of adda continue to be forever fluid. In the past few years, adda, like Kolkatans, has moved away from verandahs, parks, and busstops and slowly inched its way to the ultimate feel-good destination -- malls.

To capitalise on this mall mania and give Kolkata its most premium mall to shop, eat and indulge in adda, CESC is setting up Spencer ’s Galleria, spread across 730,000 sq.ft, at Park Circus. “Wait for another 24 months and Calcutta will soon have India’s most attractive premium segment mall which will be the city’s pride,” Vice Chairman Sanjiv Goenka had told the media earlier in January, this year, while announcing CESC’s Q3 results.

Designed by RTKL of UK, one of the best-known mall designers in the world, the mall will house a hypermarket, a number of anchor stores, as well as vanilla stores. There will be a multiplex, as well as a food court and restaurants. Another major attraction will be the 11-level car park
accommodating 800 cars, possibly the largest in Kolkata. The construction agreement has been signed with the Engineering, Construction and Contracts Division (ECC) of Larsen & Toubro Limited, one of India’s bestknown companies.

CESC set a new benchmark in the market when it took advantage of the downturn to bring down the project cost by 16% to Rs 200 crore and thereafter awarded the contract to
L&T for immediate commencement of work.

“We intend to make the project a reality within the shortest possible time”, said Subrata Talukdar, Executive Director -Finance, CESC. The “bhoomi puja” was conducted in February 5, 2010 under the guidance of vedic priests from Varanasi. This marked the beginning of construction work at the eagerly-awaited shopping mall, to be located at 33, Syed Amir Ali Avenue in the heart of Kolkata. The site is a stone’s throw away from the 7-point Park Circus traffic crossing, a nodal point in Kolkata’s inner city traffic system.

Siddhartha Chattopadhyay, Chief Technical Advisor, CESC Properties Limited (CPL), said, “The zero date for the project is 1st February, 2010.” CPL is executing the project.

As per a corporate report in RPG website,the work should have already started at this plot.


Adda at spencer's galleria

CESC is setting up a spanking new mall in the heart of Kolkata.

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/8629/spencersgalleria.jpg


Adda is Kolkata’s life-blood. For the uninitiated, it loosely translates as a group activity, where people just hang around and talk on everything under the sun, crack jokes or simply watch
the world go by, over a cuppa. Like content, the venues of adda continue to be forever fluid. In the past few years, adda, like Kolkatans, has moved away from verandahs, parks, and busstops and slowly inched its way to the ultimate feel-good destination -- malls.

To capitalise on this mall mania and give Kolkata its most premium mall to shop, eat and indulge in adda, CESC is setting up Spencer ’s Galleria, spread across 730,000 sq.ft, at Park Circus. “Wait for another 24 months and Calcutta will soon have India’s most attractive premium segment mall which will be the city’s pride,” Vice Chairman Sanjiv Goenka had told the media earlier in January, this year, while announcing CESC’s Q3 results.

Designed by RTKL of UK, one of the best-known mall designers in the world, the mall will house a hypermarket, a number of anchor stores, as well as vanilla stores. There will be a multiplex, as well as a food court and restaurants. Another major attraction will be the 11-level car park
accommodating 800 cars, possibly the largest in Kolkata. The construction agreement has been signed with the Engineering, Construction and Contracts Division (ECC) of Larsen & Toubro Limited, one of India’s bestknown companies.

CESC set a new benchmark in the market when it took advantage of the downturn to bring down the project cost by 16% to Rs 200 crore and thereafter awarded the contract to
L&T for immediate commencement of work.

“We intend to make the project a reality within the shortest possible time”, said Subrata Talukdar, Executive Director -Finance, CESC. The “bhoomi puja” was conducted in February 5, 2010 under the guidance of vedic priests from Varanasi. This marked the beginning of construction work at the eagerly-awaited shopping mall, to be located at 33, Syed Amir Ali Avenue in the heart of Kolkata. The site is a stone’s throw away from the 7-point Park Circus traffic crossing, a nodal point in Kolkata’s inner city traffic system.

Siddhartha Chattopadhyay, Chief Technical Advisor, CESC Properties Limited (CPL), said, “The zero date for the project is 1st February, 2010.” CPL is executing the project.

^^The mall will add a spark to an otherwise old and a bit rundown residential neighbourhood. The location could not get any better than this. The u/c flyover from Science city will also encourage people from Salt Lake and Bypass areas to visit the mall.I am guessing the Spencers here would probably be the largest the country. In short, a couple of years down the line, this mall would give serious competition to the two CCs, Forum and South City.

^^The mall will add a spark to an otherwise old and a bit rundown residential neighbourhood. The location could not get any better than this. The u/c flyover from Science city will also encourage people from Salt Lake and Bypass areas to visit the mall.I am guessing the Spencers here would probably be the largest the country. In short, a couple of years down the line, this mall would give serious competition to the two CCs, Forum and South City.

Completely agree with you.This is probably one of the best locations for any mall to come up in proper city,considering its accessibility,location and frontage. The mall,if properly built and managed,can pull good crowd from the neighbouring upmarket neighbourhoods of Ballygunge (just adjacent to it),Bhowanipore/Lansdowne,Alipore and also the Theatre Rd/Camac St/Park St areas.

Coca-Cola readies investment plan for India
OUR BUREAU

Ricardo Fort (left), vice-president (marketing) of Coca-Cola India, with Vikas Chawla, vice-president (franchise bottling operations), in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury
Calcutta, Aug. 17: Coca-Cola is giving final touches to its three-year investment plan for India.

The company, which has invested $250 million in the last three years, will submit its proposal to the global management for approval by November, a senior company official said.

“It (the plan) should be ready within the next one or two months,” Ricardo Fort, vice-president (marketing) of Coca-Cola India, said.

Bengal deal

Bengal Beverages Pvt Ltd — one of the authorised bottlers of Coca-Cola in the state — plans to set up a manufacturing facility at Dankuni before the festive season.

The company envisages an investment of Rs 65 crore for the production of fruit beverages under the Coca-Cola brand. A bulk of the investment has already been made.

Coca-Cola today forayed into the dairy segment with the launch of Maaza Milky Delite in the city. “Initially, Maaza Milky Delite will be be made available to the consumers in Calcutta followed by a nationwide launch later this year,” Fort said.

Milk solids, an ingredient for the product, will be sourced from Karnal in Haryana, while the processing will be done in the N.R.Goenka led-Diamond Beverages’ Taratala unit.

Realtors slapped benami notice

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: In a role reversal of sorts,the CPM government once a champion of land reforms seems to be fighting its own men.The land department,in a recent order,has served a vesting notice on a real estate company that has 80.07 acres of benami land in Rajarhat outside the New Town area.The company is run by a group that includes a close relative of a former CPM MP.
Documents with TOI reveal that the land is spread over two mouzas Ganragari and Mahisbathan in North 24-Parganas.Canopy Projects Private Ltd had this land under possession,close to Olive Garden,an upcoming property,for all these days till the Vedic Village case.The recovery of arms from this high-profile resort exposed the land grabbing by realtors in the once-remote areas of Rajarhat,outside the New Town area.
The land department has asked Canopy Projects officials to appear before the block land and land revenue officer,Rajarhat,on August 23 and furnish a statement describing which portion of the land under ceiling area the company wants to retain and specify the stretches of land it opts to surrender. Buying land from farmers by floating a company has been going on in the suburbs in collusion with politicians both from the ruling party and the Opposition till the government chose to mend its ways after being rebuffed by farmers in the panchayat,municipal and Lok Sabha polls.
The benami plots identified at Ganragari and Mahishbathan point to a controversial property under Canopy Infrastructure Development.
The Patharghata panchayat wrote to the Bhangar-Rajarhat Development Authority (Brada),alleging that promoters are forcibly grabbing land for a top housing complex.Panchayat pradhan Ashok Naskar has mentioned in his letter that the firm did not take permission before putting up the boundary wall.The controversial property is located 6 km from Rajarhat main road and 8 km from Vedic Village.It has also started construction in the area without our permission.We are receiving more complaints from people in Garagari of land grabbing, the letter written to Brada states.Naskar has also requested Brada not to issue NOC to the Canopy project.
A panchayat member said 86 small land owners in the area have also complained to the North 24-Parganas DM as well as the zilla parishad,but no steps have been taken.
The CEO of Brada,S K Paul,said that Canopy of Maheswari group has applied for permission for a housing project.We are yet to give permission to this project.Brada has a technical committee,which will evaluate the project and its drawings first, he added.
The land department order has come as a shot in the arm for Trinamool Congress MP from Barasat Kakoli Ghoshdastidar. The incident shows how much wealth the CPM has accumulated over the last two decades.One of the directors of the real estate company happens to be a family member of a former CPM MP and active worker of the party.I wonder how he could accumulate such huge wealth.The land under the companys possession would cost around Rs 250 crore, the Trinamool MP said.
Land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah confirmed the vesting order and said the government is going to distribute 6,000 acres of vested land among the landless.

^^ great job, however isnt this a common issue all over the country. Then y the hell always a city of bengal or the state comes in the limelight!!
Isnt the same thing happened in west UP?...it just took the UP's M a week to settle the entire issue!..but here, its M v B, where there's only one conclusion to the issue "NO CONCLUSION".

Biyani eyes Rs 10,000-cr revenue from foods biz in 4-years

MUMBAI: The Kishore Biyani-run Future Group is eyeing around Rs 10,000-crore revenue from its food business over the next 3-4 years even as the group targets an around 40 per cent growth this fiscal.

"We have learnt the lessons of survival during the economic downturn. It was an opportunity to take some bold decisions and focus on our existing businesses," he said, describing the meltdown period as "a big challenge for the retail industry."

Cost-control was one of the key focus areas for the group then while another major challenge involved taking calls on whether to increase the prices of its products.

"We created a cost-control committee and focused on our existing businesses without changing the prices of our products," he said.

Admitting to some jitters during the period, India's leading retailer said that business was indeed impacted in places like Bangalore where the recession hit its major industry, IT, with many employees fearing loss of their jobs. "It was a big challenge not to close down our Bangalore outlets at that time," he said. In sharp contrast, Kolkata remained unaffected by the slowdown, he said.


THIS GOES TO SAY THE DIVERSITY OF KOLKATA'S ECONOMY AND HENCE ITS SUSTAINABILITY!

Biyani eyes Rs 10,000-cr revenue from foods biz in 4-years

MUMBAI: The Kishore Biyani-run Future Group is eyeing around Rs 10,000-crore revenue from its food business over the next 3-4 years even as the group targets an around 40 per cent growth this fiscal.

"We have learnt the lessons of survival during the economic downturn. It was an opportunity to take some bold decisions and focus on our existing businesses," he said, describing the meltdown period as "a big challenge for the retail industry."

Cost-control was one of the key focus areas for the group then while another major challenge involved taking calls on whether to increase the prices of its products.

"We created a cost-control committee and focused on our existing businesses without changing the prices of our products," he said.

Admitting to some jitters during the period, India's leading retailer said that business was indeed impacted in places like Bangalore where the recession hit its major industry, IT, with many employees fearing loss of their jobs. "It was a big challenge not to close down our Bangalore outlets at that time," he said. In sharp contrast, Kolkata remained unaffected by the slowdown, he said.


THIS GOES TO SAY THE DIVERSITY OF KOLKATA'S ECONOMY AND HENCE ITS SUSTAINABILITY!

How to delete a message? I only see the edit option!

Among the metros, Kolkata registered the highest inflation

If you are a resident of Warangal or Rajkot, you sure have reason to complain louder than others about inflation.

Data on the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers viz. CPI (IW) show that these cities have the unenviable distinction of recording the highest increase in monthly prices, in the first half of calendar 2010, among urban centres. Prices in these towns rose between 19-27 per cent in the six months through January to June 2010 over the corresponding months in 2009.

Warangal and Rajkot are not unique. Numbers for these cities reflect a trend of non-metropolitan cities having had to bear, on an average, sharper price increase than the metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) in this period.

Across the country, several other non-metros such as Bhavnagar, Jabalpur, Asansol, and Mercarra have registered inflation much higher than the national average.

On an all India-basis, the point-to-point inflation in the urban centres was 13.7 per cent in June 2010. As against this, in most metros, prices increased at a lower rate of around 10-10.5 per cent.

Among the metros, Kolkata registered the highest inflation (around 13 to 13.7 per cent), while Chennai got away comparatively mildly (around 9 to 10 per cent). Rangapara in Assam was relatively unscathed by the inflationary winds, with prices increasing between 3.6-6.3 per cent, the lowest in the country.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/08/30/stories/2010083051721200.htm

Among the metros, Kolkata registered the highest inflation

If you are a resident of Warangal or Rajkot, you sure have reason to complain louder than others about inflation.

Data on the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers viz. CPI (IW) show that these cities have the unenviable distinction of recording the highest increase in monthly prices, in the first half of calendar 2010, among urban centres. Prices in these towns rose between 19-27 per cent in the six months through January to June 2010 over the corresponding months in 2009.

Warangal and Rajkot are not unique. Numbers for these cities reflect a trend of non-metropolitan cities having had to bear, on an average, sharper price increase than the metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) in this period.

Across the country, several other non-metros such as Bhavnagar, Jabalpur, Asansol, and Mercarra have registered inflation much higher than the national average.

On an all India-basis, the point-to-point inflation in the urban centres was 13.7 per cent in June 2010. As against this, in most metros, prices increased at a lower rate of around 10-10.5 per cent.

Among the metros, Kolkata registered the highest inflation (around 13 to 13.7 per cent), while Chennai got away comparatively mildly (around 9 to 10 per cent). Rangapara in Assam was relatively unscathed by the inflationary winds, with prices increasing between 3.6-6.3 per cent, the lowest in the country.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/08/30/stories/2010083051721200.htm

I wonder whether this is the classical case of presenting partial view with percentage figures, used so well by our current ministers (especially finance and IT minister) in showing the growth rate of WB!

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOIKM/2010/09/03/2/Img/Pc0020600.jpg

Kolkata real estate ratesTOI

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/681/toij.jpg (http://img834.imageshack.us/i/toij.jpg/)

As per the above list, Lower range of price decreses ONLY for New Town, Rajarhat. Interesting.


Kolkata real estate ratesTOI

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/681/toij.jpg (http://img834.imageshack.us/i/toij.jpg/)

Accenture finally in kolkata.Here is the prove but office adress is not mentioned on their website.:cheers:

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/663/accenture.png (http://img841.imageshack.us/i/accenture.png/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

^^:cheers:

Accenture finally in kolkata.Here is the prove but office adress is not mentioned on their website.:cheers:

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/663/accenture.png (http://img841.imageshack.us/i/accenture.png/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

^^nice find, HK:cheers:

@Arijit
Any idea about the address?
Which building they have taken space in and how much?

I heard they have taken office space at DLF IT park-2.

I heard they have taken office space at DLF IT park-2.

^^is the source reliable? strangely nothing out in the media. On another note i appreciate all the biggies( taking up space in New Town which provides better quality commercial infra than sector V

A relative of mine is heading to kolkata for accenture recruitment....said the kolkata centre will start "soon"

Bengal back on IT investment radar

Kolkata: Three IT biggies will make their foray in Brand Bengal next week. And chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will lay the foundation for the East Kolkata IT Park to accommodate them.
Rolta India, HSBC and HCL will get 5 acres, 3.5 acres and 1.5 acres respectively in the 10-acre East Kolkata IT Park on Wednesday. Bhattacharjee will lay the foundation for the IT park as well as the individual projects at Nonadanga off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. The chief minister seems desperate to discard the setbacks created by recent bandhs. Even as talks were going on with Rolta, HSBC and HCL for the last few years, the IT department, prodded by Bhattacharjee, got all three to finalise their projects overnight so that the foundation could be laid here and now.
Exactly three years ago, on September 14, 2007, Rolta India’s chairman and MD Kamal K Singh had signed an MoU in the chief minister’s presence at Writers’ Buildings. But the IT player had put off clinching the final deal ever since. In the meantime, the Left Front government had faced one poll debacle after the other, creating enough political uncertainty to raise doubts about Bengal being the right investment destination.
Naturally, the global market leader’s rethink, along with the other two IT companies stepping in, has rejuvenated the IT department. A jubilant IT secretary, Siddharth, said: “The IT destination will be the third after Salt Lake’s Sector V and the nearby Rajarhat-New Town IT hub. It will be a big event for the state’s sunshine sector because we would have created a new IT hub after the two known ones. All three IT companies are very big and their presence will be an enormous boost to the investment scenario, which had become somewhat dull, thanks to the recession.”
Between the three companies, more than 10,000 people are likely to be employed at the new IT park.
Rolta, a solution provider of innovative information, technology solutions, services and software, will invest over Rs 250 crore and provide extensive facilities for delivery of information technology-based geo-satial services, engineering design services, software development and ERP implementation services worldwide. Rolta alone will provide employment opportunity for around 5,000 technical professionals and domain experts.
HCL, on the other hand, will provide 2,000 openings. Like Rolta, the leading global technology and IT enterprise with annual revenues of $5 billion, will be stepping into the state for the first time. For HSBC, though, it will be a second campus. The “group service centre” of HSBC Electronic Data Processing India (HDPI), a subsidiary of HSBC, is already operational at Salt Lake; the facility handles the back office requirement of HSBC’s subsidiaries worldwide. A similar project will come up on the 3.5 acres given to HSBC at Nonadanga.
The IT secretary said HSBC’s expansion in the state would encourage more BPO players to set up base here. “I think we are coming out of the lull and the presence of these big IT companies will be enough proof of the fact,” said Siddharth.

Got to know from a person in accenture that they have taken up space in Unitech Infospace.

Foundation laid for Rolta's R&D centre in Kolkata (http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article669369.ece)


http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9291/th16rolta213349f.jpg
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with Chairman of Rolta India Limited K.K. Singh during the foundation stone laying ceremony of 'East Kolkata IT Park' in Kolkata.

Rolta India, which is planning to set up its third research and development centre in a new IT park coming up in West Bengal, chose this location over a probable southern destination. The company provides comprehensive services and solutions in GIS, defence and homeland security and engineering and design.

The Chairman of Rolta, K. K. Singh, told reporters here that Rs.250 crore would be spent within five years to set up a ‘big R&D' centre. The other two such facilities are located in the company's headquarters in Mumbai and in Delhi. The company, which was also looking at the South for locating this facility, chose the city for the facilities it offered, including a vast talent pool and reasonable land rates. The project's foundation was laid by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday.

Rolta would take five acres out of a 10-acre IT Park that will come up at this location which is around 13 km from the Central Business District and close to the airport. Named the East Kolkata IT Park, this would be the city's fourth IT hub and would see investments from two other companies one being HSBC Electronics Data Processing Pvt Ltd., for whom this would be the second city unit, while the third company, HCL Infosystems, has taken up 1.5 acres for locating its regional headquarters with a skill development centre and an infrastructure and a management centre. Total employment would be 1,500. The Park, where about one million sq. ft. of built-up space would be developed is expected to be operational by 2012. Employment generation would be around 10,000.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that land had already been given to three big players in the IT industry. Admitting that the State was a late starter in promoting this industry, he said that the State was trying to expand the current area under IT parks by developing new ones in Siliguri in North Bengal and in Durgapur. While asking the IT institutes to raise their quality of teaching and bring it in tune with industry needs, he exhorted the industry to give preference to local skill, while hiring. State IT Minister Debesh Das said the city and Noida were the only two regions to clock positive growth rates in IT exports last year when the global meltdown had left an industry-wide scar. Exports now stand at Rs.6,500 crore against Rs.2,700 crore four years ago.

Buddha back with IT park platter (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100916/jsp/frontpage/story_12940736.jsp)


Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and (right) Debesh Das at the programme. (Amit Datta)

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s dry run at his favourite mission — promoting the information technology industry — ended on Wednesday when he launched an IT park, the first in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation area.

“Our largest IT companies are in Salt Lake Sector V, where 80,000 people work. Around 10,000 employees are working in the Rajarhat area. Then there is the IT park in Bantala. Now we have one in Nonadanga,” said the chief minister after laying the foundation stone.

He did not mention the aborted projects — the 1,200-acre Bengal Diamond Vedic IT Links, 350-acre IT township at Jagadishpur in Rajarhat, and the 100-acre IT park in Kalyani — that the government had announced with much fanfare.

While the IT Links project was abandoned in 2009 following the Vedic Village flare-up, the IT township was scrapped following land acquisition problems. The IT park in Kalyani failed to take off as there were no takers.

The 10-acre Nonadanga park, just 10 minutes from Ruby Hospital, is being developed by Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), which has provided the land and is aiming to bring investments of about Rs 500 crore initially.

“This IT park will generate almost 10,000 jobs once it starts functioning,” said principal secretary (IT) Siddharth.

The last IT park started successfully by the state government was the 130-acre one carved out of the Bantala leather complex in 2006. But even that had been grounded by pollution hurdles till a few months back when Cognizant Technology Solutions began operations there.

“East Kolkata IT Park will be a major boost after bad luck dogged the IT department’s effort for the past two years,” said a senior official of a Sector V company who attended the ceremony.

Rolta, HSBC Electronic Data Processing India and HCL Infosystems are the three companies that have taken up space at the Park.

“We are going to set up a software research and development unit here. We will invest Rs 250 crore and expect to generate 5,000 jobs,” said Rolta chairman K.K. Singh.

A spokesperson for HCL Infosystems said it would set up a centre of excellence that would serve as the company’s regional headquarters. Over 1,500 are expected to be employed at the hub.

IT minister Debesh Das, Webel chairman N.R. Banerjea, Webel managing director Tamal Dasgupta and Suman Ghosh Hazra, the executive vice president of HCL Infosystems, were present at the foundation stone laying ceremony.

The 1,000,000sq ft that will be developed in East Kolkata IT Park will be fully operational in the next two years.

:banana:

^^
HCL Infosystems to set-up Centre of Excellence in West Bengal
(http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=23923)

Kolkota, West Bengal, India, Wednesday, September 15, 2010 -- (Business Wire India)

HCL Infosystems India’s premier hardware, services and ICT system integration company today acquired the formal possession of 1.562 acres of land allotted by the West Bengal government. This land will be used to set up “HCL Regional Headquarter and Center of Excellence” and will also be instrumental in setting up specially designed software services and system integration product labs. The HCL Infosystems Center of Excellence will be set up at East Kolkata IT Park, located at Nonaganda, Kolkata.

The Regional headquarter and Centre of Excellence will be creating job opportunities for over 1500 professionals in the state. The centre will involve setting up of Regional Skill Development Centre, Infrastructure Management Centre, Networking & Security Lab, Product Development Lab, Telecom Lab, Software Development Centre and Remote Support Center.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems, said, “We are honoured to have got this opportunity from the West Bengal Government and we commend the vision of the Government of West Bengal to fuel investments in igniting the growth of IT sector in the state.”

The company already has more than 15 centers in West Bengal and would be starting the construction process of the new facilities soon.

another :banana:

^^ There are 4-5 such companies who are interested..

^^
HCL Infosystems to set-up Centre of Excellence in West Bengal
(http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=23923)

This is great news! Something to look forward to beyond the current crop of IT shops in Bengal!

A relative of mine is heading to kolkata for accenture recruitment....said the kolkata centre will start "soon"

avishar, any further update on this such as numbers, roles etc? If they are thinking big, I would expect them to start "poaching" for the senior management/executive talent available in Kolkata. Just heard a rumor to that effect ;)

^^ There are 4-5 such companies who are interested..

4-5 besides these 3 ?

^^^i guess it would be total 4-5, btw which r the other cos, other than HSBC, HCL and Rolta?

IBS to invest Rs 25 crore for Kolkata campus

Icfai Business School (IBS) Kolkata announced today that it had acquired 5 acres to set up its campus. The land is about 8 km from Science City on the Basanti Highway. The institute plans to spend Rs 25 crore in the phase-I of the project expected to be ready by 2012.

The new campus will be spread over 50,000 square feet. “We have eight universities and six are in the pipeline; another six operate as IBS,” said Ashim Ghosh, director, IBS Kolkata. It has a batch strength of 700 which will be 500 when the new campus becomes operational in two years. IBS Kolkata offers specialisations in finance, marketing, HR and systems. “The new campus of IBS Kolkata will be affiliated to the AICTE," said Ghosh.

About getting the university status in Bengal, he said, “We have not seriously approached the matter with the West Bengal government. When it happens, we plan to offer courses in technology, law, education apart from management in the new university."

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ibs-to-invest-rs-25-crore-for-kolkata-campus/408415/

Tollywood gets a state-of-the-art film city

It was an idea born out of recession. A brainwave which, in three months from now, will give India a new state-of-the-art film city — the ‘Purple Movie Town’. Located on the southern fringes of Kolkata, near the suburb of Garia, Purple Movie Town is the brainchild of entrepreneur Pritimoy Chakraborty, the chairperson of the Finesse Group.

The Rs 35-crore project, spread over 5.5 acres, is touted to be second only to the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. And Chakraborty, who launched the venture in 2008 because he “realised that the entertainment industry was the least affected by the economic meltdown”, couldn’t be happier. A letter of appreciation from iconic Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee has only added to his enthusiasm. One of the four studios at the film city is being named ‘Soumitra’s Alcove’ after the stalwart of Bengali cinema.

The blueprint of the project took shape with advice from other Tollywood filmmakers like Gautam Ghose, Anjan Dutta and actor Prasenjit Chatterjee. Three-time National Film Award-winning art director, Nitish Roy, helped with the design. The film city has two studio complexes, Purple I and Purple II, built with special attention to acoustics. About 20 oft-used film sets like the temple, the courtroom, railway station and airport, are also being put in place. While these will be permanent fixtures at the movie town, Roy is also setting up 14 flexible and interchangeable sets. There will also be sound recording, mixing and voice dubbing facilities, and a preview theatre. “We have designed the film city keeping in mind the basic requirement of films in India,” says Roy.

Chakraborty hopes the effort will draw not just filmmakers from Bengal, but also Assamese, Oriya and Bhojpuri directors. The Kolkata film city will be a time-saving and economically-viable option for these filmmakers most of whom rely on Mumbai or the south for their projects. Also on the agenda are television serials and reality shows.

Not willing to rule anything out, Chakraborty says his film city also has scope for Hollywood. “India has always been a sought-after destination for Hollywood filmmakers,” he says. Some Hollywood production houses are expected to visit the venue in November.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/take-town/408466/

I eagerly want to know whether Accenture has taken up space in kolkata?
Please give source info if anybody has
Here's the news
Source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/accenture-to-foray-into-bengal-to-employ-1000-in-first-phase/408666/)
Accenture to foray into Bengal; to employ 1,000 in first phase

Kolkata is all set to have a new entrant in the information technology (IT) space. Global technology and consultancy giant, Accenture, is currently in the process of setting up operations, by way of a software development and delivery centre in Rajarhat.

The company has already started construction work at DLF New Town Heights, located in Rajarhat, where the office would be set up, said a highly placed source within the told Business Standard.

Accenture, which had been was rumored to establish presence in the city for the past two years, has scheduled the start of operations in the city by the end of the year.

“We have been planning to establish operations in Kolkata for a while now, but have plans have faced delays. The plan now is to start operations by the end of the year. In the first phase, we will hire about 1, 200 professionals”, said the source.

For this purpose, employees from Hyderabad and Bangalore, interested in transfer to Kolkata have already been asked to requisition applications.

“We are aware that they are planning to establish a presence in Kolkata by the end of the year, with an initial strength of over 1, 000 employees. They have been boosted by the superior infrastructure and the talent pool that the city offers to IT companies”, said West Bengal minister for IT, Debesh Das.

A team from Accenture was in the city, last week surveying progress of operations, the official said, adding that the Kolkata plan had been in the pipeline for a while but was delayed because of a spectrum of issues ranging from recession to operational requirement fulfillment.

It might be noted that Accenture plans to add around 8,000 people in India by the end of 2010, taking its total employee base in the country to 50,000.

Accenture has a presence in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, New Delhi, Pune and Chennai across India.

The IT giant has annual revenues of $21.58 billion for fiscal 2009, has earlier announced its focus on strengthening clients in telecommunications, pharmaceutical and energy sectors in the country.

Realty foray for city-based firm

The city-based Emami Group of Companies, with core competence in personal and healthcare consumer products and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), is making a foray into the real estate segment, hoping to cash in on fresh buoyancy in the brick-and-mortar domain.

“We are looking at investment in property and valuation thereof in a band of Rs 4,000 to 8,000 crore across the country over the next five years. The thrust will be on the residential segment,” R.S. Agarwal, the joint chairman, Emami Group of Companies, told Metro.

The group is in the process of formalising its joint-sector housing outfit with the West Bengal Housing Board, and is preparing to roll out 6.5 million sq ft of built space by 2015, the cross-subsidy model alone accounting for 4 million sq ft.

“We will develop a 1 million-sq ft project in Rajarhat comprising LIG, MIG and HIG apartments with Hafeez Contractor as our architect, and another 1.9 million sq ft housing complex on Jessore Road,” said Rajesh Bagaria, the managing director of Bengal Emami Housing Ltd.

Emami Realty, the real estate arm of the group, which is already part of large-scale consortium projects in the city like South City, Rosedale and the forthcoming upscale Urbana, is ramping up its presence in the high-end condo segment and commercial real estate.

A large-format mass-housing project is coming up on Mumbai Road, while two IT parks planned in Sector V and the Rajarhat IT corridor, with a combined leasable space of 500,000 sq ft.

The group — also having interest in paper and newsprint, writing instruments, edible oils, bio-diesel and contemporary arts, and with a current market cap of Rs 7,000 crore — is scaling up its pan-India presence in real estate, with a clutch of high-end residential projects lined up in various cities.

“We are doing a Rs 2,000-crore, 1 million-sq ft condo complex in Mumbai and high-end residential projects in Hyderabad and Coimbatore. We are also developing a 1 million-sq ft mixed-use project in Adityapur and have a 375-acre land bank in Jhansi,” added Girija Choudhary, the CFO of Emami Realty.

The Emami Group, which is pondering a public issue, is also scaling up its presence in healthcare, lining up investment of Rs 2,000-3,000 crore in the next five years, including its upcoming mother-and-child hospital in Mukundapur, off the Bypass.

“We want to open around 200 outlets of Frank Ross, our pharmacy retail chain, which would make it the biggest in the country,” stressed Agarwal.

The pharmacy chain currently has 70 outlets operational. Starmark, the books-music-gifts combo retail format from the Emami stable, is also on expansion mode, recently unveiling a store in Mani Square mall.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100921/jsp/calcutta/story_12944263.jsp

Here's the news
Source (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/accenture-to-foray-into-bengal-to-employ-1000-in-first-phase/408666/)
Accenture to foray into Bengal; to employ 1,000 in first phase


Isn't DLF New Town Heights a housing project?
Or it has commercial space also?

^^yes u r ri8, it cud b the land beside the housin project, though this is an assumption..!

Isn't DLF New Town Heights a housing project?
Or it has commercial space also?

^^it is a mistake on the part of the reporter. New town heights is a housing project. I am guessing they may take space in DLF 02 (which is literally lying vacant), Infospace or Ecospace in Rajarhat because thats where they will get the capacity to ramp up to 1200 in a short time.

Guys what i have heard from my source who is pretty well placed in the company is that they have taken up space in a UNITECH property.So i think its Infospace.

Guys what i have heard from my source who is pretty well placed in the company is that they have taken up space in a UNITECH property.So i think its Infospace.

Good. So we now have Capgemini, Genpact, TCS, Wipro and Accenture already operating/soon to operate from Infospace.:cheers:

As published in TOI today(Again mention of New Town heights :nuts:)

IT giant set to make foray into Bengal

Ajanta Chakraborty | TNN

Kolkata: US-based Accenture is about to set up shop in the city.It will be the global giants largest centre in Asia.
State IT secretary Siddharth said on Tuesday,For a long time we have been trying to woo this IT major.Talks have been on since 2008.The deal was clinched last week when a team of officials from Accenture was here. The software development and delivery centre will come up at Rajarhat at DLFs New Town Heights,said Siddharth.
The global technology and constancy giants decision to set up shop here is being touted as a major development in the state which is worried over the future of its sunshine sector.Last week,around the time the Accenture was finalizing talks,chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was inaugurating the states fourth IT park at Nonadanga which would house IT companies like Rolta,HSBC and HCL.The CM had predicted a turnaround and here it is.Accenture is very huge and this the best thing to have happened to us in a long time, confessed a senior official in the IT department.
Accentures move to invest in the state is also viewed as an encouragement for other IT majors whom the state has been trying to woo for a long time.Most of them,including Infosys,had backed out during recession which coincided with the political upheaval in Bengal.
IT department officials said Accenture wants to begin operations at its software development and delivery centre by the end of this year and will be in a position to hire about 1,500 professionals.Said Siddharth,The atmosphere in Bengal is congenial to development and Accenture will be able to make use of the ready talent pool here.
The global giant already has a presence in Bangalore,Gurgaon,Hyderabad,New Delhi,Pune and Chennai.It has announced an additional employment of 8,000 people in India by this year-end.It already has over 50,000 employees across the country.Buoyed by the gradual openings in the investment area,the I T department is determined to continue with its e-governance initiatives so that IT reaches to the under-privileged as well.Next Monday,the chief minister will launch the states first e-districts in Jalpaiguri and Bankura.E-district is a concept that offers integrated,seamless and online delivery of citizen services at the district level through automation of workflow,back-end digitization,integration and process redesign.Siddharth said,The G2C (government-to-citizen ) project will deliver around 50 services online at the district level and subordinate offices.For instance,people at the panchayat level will be able to get domicile,income,pension or arm licence certificates or requests for ration card etc from kiosks.The project will be gradually rolled out in other districts. The services have been shortlisted keeping the citizens needs as primary service objective.The e-district initiative of the department of information technology,ministry of communication and information technology has been identified as one of the mission mode projects at the state level.The project would optimally leverage and utilize the three infrastructure pillars,the State Wide Area Network for connectivity,State Data Centre for secure and fail safe data storage and Common Service Centres to serve citizens at their doorstep.Siddharth said that the state IT department has been awarded the National Tech Excellence Award by the Maharashtra government and the SCOCH Award in Delhi.The first award is for intra-net video conferencing and the second if for preparing multi-media pack or the ICT tool for scheduled castes and tribes, he added.

I recently heard from a freind who studies in techno india college(rajarhat) that one of the students had beaten up the interviewer of infosys which had come for campus selection in dat college.
INFOSYS then withdrew itself from the entire techno india group of colleges for campus placements!!
how can companies enter BRAND BENGAL if such incidents take place??

Kolkata: The shipping ministry is planning to develop Sagar as a maritime investment region, though all the projects under this scheme would be set up on reclaimed land, according to Union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy.

The Centre has already proposed setting up a deeper draughted port at Sagar instead of setting up a deep sea port, which was in discussion for a long time. Roy, on the sidelines of an interactive session, organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) said his ministry was looking into the possibility of setting up a thermal power plant and a ship building yard besides the proposed the deeper draughted port. “...but all the projects would come up on reclaimed land,” he said.

“The question of acquiring land at Sagar does not arise because we have already decided to reclaim 2,000 acres on which the port will be set up and the other projects can also be accommodated,” Roy said.

He, however, made it clear that developing Sagar into a maritime investment region would take at least 10-12 years “but we have a clear vision for it and want to have our plans ready by then”.

Reclaiming 2,000 acre from the confluence of river and sea at Sagar would take at least 5 years and then some time has to be given for the land mass to stabilise. Thereafter, works for developing the projects could start, the minister said.
wonder if such a long term plan will take place??

I recently heard from a freind who studies in techno india college(rajarhat) that one of the students had beaten up the interviewer of infosys which had come for campus selection in dat college.
INFOSYS then withdrew itself from the entire techno india group of colleges for campus placements!!
how can companies enter BRAND BENGAL if such incidents take place??

One of friend is a faculty in Techno India,Sec V, even he also confirmed about this sad incident:bash:

Suzlon in pact with Kolkata firm for Rs 1, 149-cr projects

Suzlon Energy Ltd (SEL) signed of a new order with Kolkata-based Techno Electric Group for over 202.2 MW wind power projects for approximately Rs 1,149 crore. This order is part of a the agreement of 500 MW signed with Suzlon as the preferred supplier. This is the single largest deal by an independent power producer (IPP) in India for wind power investment, Suzlon said in a release on Tuesday.

The group has emerged as an IPP with operational wind power projects of more than 95 MW, set-up and operated by Suzlon in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This new order will take Techno Electric Group’s total wind power portfolio to over 297 MW. The first phase of 101.4 MW will be commissioned in Tamil Nadu by June 2011. The second phase of 100.8 MW will be commissioned by December 2011.

The wind power installed capacity in the country is at 12,000 MW while the total estimated onshore wind power potential in India, as per ministry of new and renewable energy data is over 48,000 MW. P Gupta, MD, Techno Electricm, said the company sees substantial growth opportunities for IPPs in India’s wind energy market.

The Group has ambitious plans of 500 MW of wind energy projects and would depend on Suzlon’s expertise to become a major wind power IPP in India. Tulsi Tanti, CMD, Suzlon Energy, said, this order was a new phase of IPP investments in wind power.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Suzlon-in-pact-with-Kolkata-firm-for-Rs-1--149-cr-projects/685524/

Paperboard: Avantha plans second entry

Avantha Group is all set to have manufacturing footprint in Bengal. Gautam Thapar said it has acquired 8 acres near CESC thermal power plant at Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas. “We will set up a fly ash-based building material unit. It will manufacture building blocks under Biltec brand,” he added. Thapar said Avantha would invest 20 crore in the manufacturing facility. Currently, it has two units in Maharashtra and Haryana. TNN

CHECK-IN TIME
Zuri to increase hotel count by over 3 times

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kolkata: Zuri Hotels & Resorts,that forayed into the hospitality industry barely eight years ago and currently owns and operates six properties in India and abroad,has chalked out an ambitious expansion plan to increase its hotel count by over three times and double its turnover.
We are planning to invest Rs 500-1,000 crore to expand the chain from six properties now to 21 properties in five years.Of the 15 that are to be added,10 will be in India, group managing director Bobby Kamani said.Of these,around five will be owned by the company while the rest will be under management contract.
Announcing the first management contract,a 21 keys resort in Sikkim,Kamani said the company was in talks with hoteliers as well as real estate developers in Kolkata,Hyderabad,Chennai,Chandigarh and Jaipur to expand the hotel chain.
Most of the hotels that we add will be under the contract model as it is quicker and requires no additional funds.However,we are open to organic and inorganic growth opportunities.We have a plot at Bangalore that will be developed within five years.We are also scouting for possible takeovers in India and abroad, he said.
Zuri Group Global,that is owned by a consortium of investors from West Asia and Kenya,has invested around 1000 crore in the hospitality business so far.The future funding will either be through private equity placement or initial public offer.
We are in talks with two PE players.The IPO option is also not ruled out.If the market is good,we will go public in three years, joint MD Abhishek Kamani said.

HM ready to change gear with new car

Hindustan Motors, the maker of the iconic Ambassador, is developing a new car after a gap of 26 years.

The CK Birla company said it would also come out with variants of the Ambassador, while exploring options to use idle capacity for contract manufacturing.

Managing director Manoj Jha said the string of measures would make the company operationally profitable by the end of this fiscal.

Hindustan Motors’ net worth was Rs 164 crore as on June 30, 2010, while accumulated loss was around Rs 152 crore, representing an erosion of around 92.5 per cent.

Jha said Hindustan Motors (HM) had raised Rs 40 crore by selling a property in Chennai and shares of auto component maker Avtec to other CK Birla group companies to prevent the company from slipping into the clutches of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

This money will help HM to tide itself over the crisis till December. A company is referred to the BIFR if its net worth is fully eroded. HM has been suffering a loss of Rs 20 crore a quarter for the last few quarters. The promoters are also expected to chip in with funds .

Jha said he expected all the three plants of HM — Uttarpara in Bengal, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Indore in Madhya Pradesh — to become self sufficient by the last quarter. “We have reached the inflexion point.”

During the October-December quarter, a variant of the Ambassador will be introduced. The engine will be supplied by a global leader in engine technology.

HM had last introduced a car — the Contessa — almost 26 years ago. The Ambassador was launched in 1948. While the Contessa has been phased out, the Ambassador still sells 800 units a month.

Jha said the company would increase the number of dealers to 200 from 75 as well as the number of service centres. “We want more people to use the Ambassador for personal use rather than for commercial purposes (taxi).”

Jha seemed to have changed the way HM has functioned over the years, which is treating the Uttarpara plant and the Ambassador as a liability, while clinging on to the Chennai plant and the contract manufacturing deal with Mitsubishi as pills for recovery. “The Uttarpara unit is a great asset which we must utilise,” he said. The Telegraph

Urban dreams get a new address
Once an industrial township, the Maheshtala-Budge Budge area is transforming into one of the city’s hottest realty destinations
Ajanta Chakraborty | TNN

South-Westward Ho
Home to industries then, an abode of realty now. Maheshtala-Budge Budge, 10 miles from Alipore, is a hub of activity. Gone are the days when factory workers would cycle along Budge Budge Trunk Road (BBTR) as the siren shattered the morning calm. As the sun rose, smoke would billow out of the chimneys, buses rev up and a busy mofussil day would begin.
No more. Realtors have lined up and government agencies (KMDA and the municipalities), have suddenly woken up to the needs of this new urban destination, putting people like Sushanto Chatterjee (57) in a quandary. “Shall I settle for one of these ‘laps of luxury’ flickering on the hoardings? Would it be worth leaving an ancestral home (in Jorabagan)?” The AG Bengal employee conjures up a spacious, airy apartment amid green acres, a hospital two streets away and a shopping complex on call.
From Clive to closed factories
Behind Chatterjee’s aspiration is a 300-year-old history. Budge Budge, on the banks of the Hooghly, had a fort captured by Lord Clive in 1756 and dismantled in 1793. It became a municipality in 1900. Neighbouring Maheshtala shares the British legacy, but was elevated to a municipality (from panchayat) only in 1993. Once an industrial zone, but several factories have closed over the years (Britannia, BOC, Eveready, even Twinings of London are thriving, though). Now, huge tracts are changing to plush complexes, making Maheshtala-Budge Budge home to projects like Greenfield City, Eden City-Maheshtala, Calcutta Riverside and Purti Flowers. Five years hence, malls and multiplexes will dot the area. Jamal Ali Malik, who was born at Jalkhura off BBTR and now drives a goods carrier here, is excited at the thought: “The road has improved, water and sewer lines are being constructed. This area is getting attention at last.”
Unplanned urbanisation
“When we came here 15 years ago, it was a typical industrial area where goons had a free run. Now streets are lit at night, police are on patrol, there are more buses and the infrastructure projects are on. It promises to get better with time,” Abhijit Sengupta, MD, Elkom Enterprises, elaborates. “Things change rather abruptly in Kolkata. I wish this transition would be propelled by planning,” rues city chronicler P T Nair.
Vivek Bharadwaj, CEO, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), explains, “In the next 20 years, 590 million people will flock to
suburban areas. Whether it’s migration or natural growth — people will tend to move out of congested localities.” He admits the growth is unplanned “because people move in to new territories according to their own needs. “The only way to cope is to create matching infrastructure — within our means,” adds Bharadwaj. The creative chaos is evident. But India is all about chaos, insists Pawan Agarwal, director, Greenfield City. “Some prefer the chaos to the ‘planned’ Rajarhat.”
Buyer psyche
“I didn’t want to end up in a 2-BHK matchbox in a faceless concrete monstrosity where water is stored in small buckets. So I looked beyond city limits,” Rina Adhikari, a Punjab National Bank employee, explains why she invested in Eden City-Maheshtala. “Compact townships are the order of the day,” says Ashish K Bhattacharya, professor, IIMCalcutta. He has bought a flat at Calcutta Riverside. Echoes future neighbour, Subrat Sen, zonal financial head, Reliance Retail: “Initially I wasn’t bothered beyond the township’s walls. The project looked exciting... golf course, river front, swimming pool. It’s heartening to know that even Metro will be nearby.” So what drew NRI Rupak Chakladar south-westward (Eden City Maheshtala)? “Living in the lap of nature,
but being connected,” replies the lecturer at L o n d o n’s GGSK College.
Method in madness
“It’s difficult to get 262 acres at one location. (The site for the lavish project is the erstwhile Batanagar township),” says Sumit Dabriwal, managing director, Riverside
Group. Was it chance that effected this rapid urbanisation? Not really, says Biswadip Gupta, CEO, Eden City Maheshtala: “If Maheshtala-Budge Budge is emerging as a realty hub, there is logic behind it. It’s a strategic location brought us here in 2006.” Says Dabriwal: “This area is apt for development. There are roads, sewer lines, water connections. We have a power station next door and storm water discharge is not an issue since we would be sitting on the river. These basic infrastructure issues are a challenge in other parts of the city.” On their own, the townships are ushering in changes. A government hospital will come up on six acres inside the Batanagar township. Another 500-bed super specialty private hospital will be set up. Plus, four private schools.
Value for money
Says senior project manager, ITC Infotech, Ayan Ganguly who has bought a flat at Greenfield City: “If everything goes well, things will only change for the better. There will be positive ROI (return of investment).” Ganguly feels the townships are already self-sustaining and less vulnerable to market’s volatility. Infrastructure outside the boundary walls will only add value to the property. As per realty estimates, on an average, 10-12 % annualized appreciation of a flat in Maheshtala-Budge Budge is a reasonable expectation over a five-year timeframe. Promoters claim the property value would double in six-seven years.
Future Factsheet
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Greenfield City: 46 acres, 95 blocks Purti Towers: 300 cottahs, 396 flats Eden City-Maheshtala: 22 acres, 2,204 flats Calcutta Riverside: 262 acres, 6,500 flats
INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS
Widening of existing 12-metre BBTR to 25 metres Flyover between Nungi More to Jinjira Bazar
BUDGE BUDGE BASICS
Budge Budge Trunk Road is the only arterial road to this area and often sees congestion. There is a proposal for an alternative road almost parallel to the eastern railway track connecting Kolkata and Budge Budge Municipality as a Bypass road. There is also a proposal for a flyover to connect the proposed bypass and Desh Bandhu Chittaranjan Road over the tracks The municipal water supply system is mostly run by KMW&SA. There is a proposal for a detailed internal network plan for water A Rs 81-crore water supply scheme under JNNURM has been sanctioned and scheduled to be completed by March 2011

http://yfrog.com/f1mah1j

http://yfrog.com/f3mah2j

Office rentals up 10 pc during July-Sept: CBRE

NEW DELHI: Major Indian cities recorded an up to 10 per cent rise in office rentals during July-September, 2010, on increased demand from corporates, according to a real estate consultancy firm.

"Over the past few months, there has been an improvement in commercial leasing activity , primarily due to the revival of expansion and consolidation plans by several corporates," CB Richard Ellis Managing Director Anshuman Magazine said in a release issued today.

The report, based on data collected across seven cities, found that rentals increased the most (10 per cent quarter-on-quarter) in Kolkata's Central Business District (CBD).

The CBDs of other metros, including Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, witnessed a 3 to 4 per cent hike in rentals during the July-September period of the current year vis-a-vis the previous quarter.

The rentals in Chennai and Hyderabad, however, remained constant when compared to the previous quarter, the report said.

"I believe that overall demand for office space would witness an improvement. I also believe that rental increase will remain in check in medium term due to ongoing supply," Magazine said.

The report also said that occupiers were actively looking at options in Secondary Business Districts (SBD) in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, owing to relatively affordable rent and improved infrastructure.

It added that there has been a considerable increase in the transaction volume in almost all major metros, including Pune and Kolkata.


"Hyderabad is expected to witness higher rentals owing to an increase in demand for commercial office space by the end of this year," the report said.

The report also pointed out that prospective tenants might look for projects with maximum value, not only in terms of competitive rentals, but also advantages like better connectivity, parking and other infrastructure facilities.

"Hence, it is imperative for developers to take a cautious approach towards rental expectations during this rising, yet fragile market," it said.

CM bid to reassure biz body

Singur is not the end of the road for Bengal. A financial hub at Rajarhat New Town, an aerotropolis at Burdwan, the East-West Metro connecting Salt Lake to Howrah — are some of the projects the state is going to get soon. The steel project at the Salboni in West Midnapore that hit the headlines after the Maoists ambushed the CM’s convoy in 2008 is also happening, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said at the CII National Council meet on Wednesday to reassure industrialists. The CM was looking for Sanjiv Goenka, vicechairman of RPG Enterprise, who could not make it to the interactive session.
“Some newspapers have been harping on Singur. But few know that the state government has acquired a total of 6,000 acres for setting up steel plant, power plant and other infrastructure in Purulia, Burdwan and North 24-Parganas. Farmers gave their land voluntarily because they got proper compensation. We have got investment proposals worth 9,000 crore between January and September. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate a financial hub sometime mid-October,” said the CM. At the same time, Bhattacharjee held that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, should be scrapped.
However, the captains of industry seemed more interested on the government’s take on agriculture and agricultural marketing. Thomas Varghese of the Aditya Birla Retail put it straight. Verghese pointed out that a proposal for setting up an agri-retail chain has been pending with the government for the last three years. The CM said: “Our policy is not to encourage big business in agri-retail. For, this would lead to displacement of families involved in the trade. However, there is need to change the present trading system. We have already given licence to Metro Cash & Carry for wholesale trade.” This is precisely the reason why Reliance could not go ahead with its direct agri-retail plan.
The CM’s response prompted industrialists to go deeper into the issue and plead for changes in the Agricultural Produce Marketing Control Act. “We have made amends to the APMC Act. I would invite Mr Deveshwar to send me a note on what kind of changes or incentives you except from the state government,” the CM said.
The reason, it seems, is more political than economic. The CPM central committee is opposed to entry of big business in agri-retail, and so is its partner Forward Bloc. So, the CM chose a safer path and accepted the proposal from ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar and some others about setting up a task force on agri-marketing.
CEO and chairman of Pepsico India region Sanjiv Chaddha, however, held that his experience with the Frito-Lay India model was quite encouraging and the feedback from farmers was good. This was in response to the CM’s announcement that some MNCs such as Mitsubishi and FritoLay are expanding business in Bengal.
The industrialists were also bothered with the Maoist problem. CII national president Hari S Bhartia asked the CM about it. Assuring him that the state won’t allow the rebels to spread their area of operation, the CM said, “We’ve made headway in containing the Maoists.” The CII national president also drew the CM’s attention to skill development of IT techies in towns other than Kolkata. The CM advocated for an industry-induction programme for skill enhancement. TNN

Is there any plans/layout of this financial hub the CM is talking about?Any commercial buildings planned?
And which part of Rajarhat is this financial hub located?

Is there any plans/layout of this financial hub the CM is talking about?Any commercial buildings planned?
And which part of Rajarhat is this financial hub located?

I think there will be more news during the foundation stone laying cermony.

Financial hub at New Town

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101009/jsp/calcutta/story_13037444.jsp

The second financial hub in the country, after Bandra-Kurla in Mumbai, will be set up in New Town, said housing minister Gautam Deb on Friday. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will lay the foundation stone for the project on October 13.

“We will develop nearly 300 acres where major financial institutions will shift their backoffices and IT-enabled operations. Among the offices will be those of central government agencies like the Reserve Bank and LIC,” said Deb.

^^

Also ABP is reporting work on two towers will start after the Pujas.

Plus Orion Techcity is one of the companies involved.

ABP Report

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6989/fiancialhub.jpg (http://img819.imageshack.us/i/fiancialhub.jpg/)

^^ Cool. This is a surprise project for us. And this is fast. Hope it will be done..:cheers:

^^

Also ABP is reporting work on two towers will start after the Pujas.

Plus Orion Techcity is one of the companies involved.

ABP Report

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6989/fiancialhub.jpg (http://img819.imageshack.us/i/fiancialhub.jpg/)

appreciated with initiative of the state govt for completion of the work within three and a half months. This is really a prestigious thing that might show a new beginning for Rajarhat, and also the State Govt, will gain some brownie points before its exit!!...:cheers:

^^

Also ABP is reporting work on two towers will start after the Pujas.

Plus Orion Techcity is one of the companies involved.

ABP Report

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6989/fiancialhub.jpg (http://img819.imageshack.us/i/fiancialhub.jpg/)

^^Good! Do they mention anything about the height of the towers ?

^^Good! Do they mention anything about the height of the towers ?

No. Indian newspapers talk more about politics than about infra/construction stuff. so most of the article is about Pranab Mukherjee and Left Front.

^^Dont worry some where or the other the renders would be up....or else if lucky the news channel or news paper would be letting us know. Btw any idea regarding the spot of Financial hub?
and guys what do u say, will it be as famous as BKC, with only RBI and another fin institution opening its main office and rest just opening its back office and IT enabled depts?

After Mumbai, biz hub in Rajarhat
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: The country’s second financial hub after Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), that will come up in Rajarhat, will help Kolkata become the next economic destination of the country. Rajarhat is being tipped as the gateway to the Southeast. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will lay the foundation stone of the hub on Wednesday.
H o u s i n g Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) managing director Saurabh Das said they were very excited at the hub’s bu s i n e s s prospect. “At present, there is no financial hub between BKC and Singapore. At the least, we expect to have financial exchanges with all South Asian countries and bring in investments worth around Rs 16,000 crore,” Das said.
There are plans for the financial hub to be named ‘Dalhousie’. The Hidco authorities had come up with the proposal to set it up in the lines of BKC and had sent the proposal to Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee earlier this year.
According to the plan, the financial hub will come up on nearly 300 acres and house several banking and financial institutions, stock exchanges and insurance companies apart from hospitality and educational institutions.
The state finance department will act as the nodal agency for developing the hub and Hidco will help set up the infrastructure. The hub has the advantage of a strategic location and good connectivity, including access to the upcoming E a s t - We s t Metro.
The city’s business fraternity welcomed the move. “This will be a welcome image change for the state. The banking and insurance sector will get a tremendous boost once the hub comes up,” said Indian Chamber of Commerce president Jayanta Roy. According to Merchant Chamber of Commerce secretary Sunirmal Roy and Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sunil Dasgupta, the hub will give a huge boost to the state’s image in terms of commerce and industry.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7664/fhub.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/i/fhub.png/)

According to the plan, the financial hub will come up on nearly 300 acres and house several banking and financial institutions, stock exchanges and insurance companies apart from hospitality and educational institutions.

the financial hub in kolkata needs about 300 ACRES.
Can the bengal government get such a huge tract of land in AA3 in rajarhat
at a time when there have been protests about just laying down pipelines and electric cables in rajarhat ? ? :bash:

I dnt think they ud b able to do so with our mamata di dead against the ongoing development in rajarhat :ohno:

Is this the design?

Source Pratidin
http://epratidin.in/epaperimages/14102010/14102010-md-hr-4/1258710.JPG

^^ya maybe
we can only hope for it to materialise soon...

the financial hub in kolkata needs about 300 ACRES.
Can the bengal government get such a huge tract of land in AA3 in rajarhat
at a time when there have been protests about just laying down pipelines and electric cables in rajarhat ? ? :bash:

I dnt think they ud b able to do so with our mamata di dead against the ongoing development in rajarhat :ohno:

^^IMO land should not be an issue. The larger challenge is inviting companies to setup base here. If my understanding is right it will probably be in the vicinity of Westin. I understand erecting electric poles have been a issue but we should note that we probably have more than 1000 acres of land developed/developing in New Town.

The Telegraph

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/618/21102010010004.jpg

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9295/21102010010040.jpg

Source:Business Standard
Kolkata October 22, 2010
Japan’s third-largest steelmaker, Sumitomo Metal Industries, will acquire a 40 per cent stake in Bhushan Steels’ six-million tonne steel plant project in West Bengal.

Sumitomo would hold 40 per cent in the special purpose vehicle and the balance would be with us, Bhushan Steels Managing Director Neeraj Singal said. The six-million tonne steel plant is likely to entail an investment in excess of Rs 20,000 crore. The notification for land acquisition is expected over the next fortnight. We would finalise the deal once we were at an advanced stage of land acquisition, Singal said. There is a difference in the deal valuation, which is being sorted out.

Bhushan Steel requires 2,500 acres for the project. The memorandum of understanding with the West Bengal government was originally for a two million tonne plant, but once discussions with Sumitomo started, the size of the plant was scaled up to six million tonnes. A captive power plant of 1,000 Mw is also part of the project.

Last year, Bhushan signed two agreements with Sumitomo for technical knowhow and marketing of products from its Orissa plant.

Sumitomo will not be the only Japanese investor in a West Bengal steel project. Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steel was in talks with JFE, Japan, for participation in its 10-million steel plant in West Bengal. Although JFE’s investment is in the parent company, JSW Steel, the possibility of investing in the West Bengal project is not ruled out.

Steel Authority of India is also looking to partner with Kobe Steel, another Japanese steel major, for a project, which could come up at its Durgapur unit, Alloy Steel Plant.

Bhushan has been waiting a long time for land. Last year, Coal India raised objections to having industrial projects in the Asansol-Durgapur belt in the Bardhaman district, which happens to be the location of the project, on grounds that it was coal-bearing. The project has since been realigned.

We have finalised the rehabilitation package, which includes land-for-land for the displaced, Singal said. The land will be acquired by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Bhushan Steels’ proposed Karnataka project is also at the land acquisition stage. The Sumitomo participation, however, is restricted to the West Bengal project. The state has seen some violent agitation against land acquisition, but government officials are not worried, as this is an industrial belt. People want ed the project, a Bhushan Steel official said.After Singur, the state government has been able to acquire about 6,500 acres for different industrial projects.

the same old story again. this time in The Economics Times dt.24.10.2010

Shristi plans Rs 750 cr luxury housing complex in Kolkata

NEW DELHI: Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation is planning to invest Rs 750 crore for developing an integrated luxury housing complex in Kolkata, offering flats at Rs 4 crore.

"It will be ready for possession in 2012 and the total outlay for the project is Rs 750 crore," Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation Managing Director Sujit Kanoria told PTI.

The company will develop 96 apartments in the project named 'V'. It will customise units according to buyers' need. The sizes of the apartments are 4,600 sq ft per unit.

"We wanted to build something of international standard in the city (Kolkata) and so decided to develop this project. It will have all luxury amenities, but very few housing units," Kanoria said.

It took the company three years on design, planning and getting approvals, he said, adding the flats would be offered for about Rs 4 crore.

Giving details, Kanoria said the 8-acre project at Rajarhat will have a helipad, a five-star hotel and retail spaces among others.

The 5-star hotel will be under the Westin brand and it will have 323 rooms, he added.

When asked about the mode of funding the project, Kanoria said: "It will be a mix of debt and equity. About Rs 240 crore debt will be utilised for the hotel only."

He further said the company has raised Rs 80 crore from private equity firm Sun-Apollo by diluting 30 per cent stake in the hotel.

chck dis out 4 a change.....
http://www.livemint.com/2010/11/01221315/Mamata-seeks-to-break-the-ice.html?h=B

chk dis 4 a change
http://www.livemint.com/2010/11/01221315/Mamata-seeks-to-break-the-ice.html?h=B

chk dis 4 a change.....

http://www.livemint.com/2010/11/01221315/Mamata-seeks-to-break-the-ice.html?h=B

are you caught in a loop? ;)

are you caught in a loop? ;)

kinda got a prob in d net at dat tym.... :)

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7640/ruia.jpg (http://img841.imageshack.us/i/ruia.jpg/)

Source: The Statesman

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/accenture-to-foray-into-bengal-to-employ-1000-in-first-phase/408666/

cc: The Telegraph

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has offered to meet German business captains to “clear obstacles”, including the sensitive land issue, and facilitate more German investment in the state, said German ambassador Thomas Matussek.

The envoy, who met the chief minister on Friday on his first visit to Calcutta after assuming his position in Delhi, told Bhattacharjee that German investors want to come to Bengal but certain obstacles need to be overcome. Scarcity of land is a prime concern.

“Bengal has a serious public relations problem and the strengths are never packaged and marketed well. In that light, the chief minister’s proactive response was a very encouraging sign. I will certainly do my utmost to persuade German political and business delegations to come to Calcutta without prejudice,” Matussek told Metro.

The ambassador felt that the business environment in Bengal is much better than it is perceived outside.

The envoy also stressed that Germany would be delighted to help Calcutta come up to speed with a world-class airport to match Delhi’s showpiece Terminal 3, if approached by the state. The ambassador felt failure to create “a positive first impression” can cost the state a substantial share of overseas investment.

On the tricky land topic, Matussek’s advice to German businessmen would be to talk to the landowners and the farmers directly.

The ambassador, who also met the governor and was the chief guest at the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce AGM, was confident that German SMEs could play a huge role in business with Bengal, particularly in the mining and steel industries, through support technology.

Matussek is very happy to see German car majors doing well in Calcutta and the business heads of Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen pitching for their products from the same platform in the city.

Stressing the deep cultural bond Calcutta has with Germany, the envoy promised that Calcutta would be an important centre for the Germany and India 2011-2012 festival starting next October. There will be rock concerts, art exhibitions, co-operation of museums, dance, theatre and a Siemens workshop.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/7186/getimagedll.jpg

Office space absorption is decent for kolkata but it has to grow much faster if it needs to catch up with Hyderabad,Pune.

Bangalore is way ahead of the pack.

its even way less than Pune :ohno:

@sidney Yes it is,and worryingly the vacancy rate in the city is hovering around 23%,which is quite a lot.

Even this year q-o-q increase is just 10%.With more and more IT parks announced along with normal commercial ventures vacancy rates are going to increase.

Just for comparison i have collected this data from Cushman & Wakefield(for 2009).This is commercial "A" grade office space.

City Suppy(million sq ft) Absorption(million sq ft)
Bangalore 5.31 5.74
Mumbai 10.58 5.39
NCR 8.5 3.8
Chennai 8.4 3.7
Pune 7.75 3.31
Kolkata 4.1 1.6




To anybody who is interested,Cushman & Wakefield comes out with very good reports every quarter,showing major new office leases.

Here is this quarters:
http://www.cushwake.com/cwmbs2q10/pdf/kolkata_off_2q10.pdf

To anybody who is interested,Cushman & Wakefield comes out with very good reports every quarter,showing major new office leases.

Here is this quarters:
http://www.cushwake.com/cwmbs2q10/pdf/kolkata_off_2q10.pdf

2Q10 report from Colliers
http://psgroup.in/upload/media/Newsletter/Colliers/Indian%20Property%20Market%20Overview%20-%20Quarter-II%202010.pdf

The second quarter witnessed a new supply of approximately 1 million sq ft in Kolkata prime office space. Approximately 60 per cent of this supply was in the form of IT/ITES office space, concentrated mostly in Sector V.

MARKET DEALS

CLIENT building name AREA (Sq. Ft.) LOCATION TRANSACTION TYPE
Sharda Group Globsyn Crystal 150,000 Salt Lake Lease
Bajaj Allianz Ecospace 50,000 Rajarhat, Lease
Uninor South City Pinnacle 40,000 Salt Lake Lease
ZTE Telecom Godrej Waterside 30,000 Salt Lake Lease
Edu Com Akash Tower 16,500 EM Bypass Lease

2Q10 Report from Cushman Wakefield

http://www.cushwake.com/cwmbs2q10/pdf/kolkata_off_2q10.pdf

The city registered total fresh supply at approximately 685,000 sq.ft
in 2Q 2010.

SIGNIFICANT NEW LEASE TRANSACTIONS
Building Tenant Sq. Ft. Location
Ecospace Ratnabali 20,000 Rajarhat
PS Akash Educomp 18,000 EM Bypass
Sunrise Tower Tatwa BPO 12,000 Sector V, Salt Lake
Unitech SEZ Bridge Tree 11,000 Rajarhat

In addition to the 2Q10 here are the links to 1Q10 and 3Q10 reports from Colliers

1Q10
http://psgroup.in/upload/media/Newsletter/Colliers/Indian%20Property%20Market%20Overview%20-%20Quarter-I%202010.pdf

Kolkata prime office space observed a new supply of approx 0.5 million sq ft in
1Q2010. Close to 65 per cent of this new supply was in the form of IT/ITES office space.

CLIENT building name AREA (Sq. Ft.) LOCATION TRANSACTION TYPE
Indus Tower Ecospace 16,000 Rajarhat, New Town Lease
Calcon Cement Ecospace 8,000 Rajarhat, New Town Lease
L&T Voith Ecospace 16,000 Rajarhat, New Town Lease

3Q10
http://psgroup.in/upload/media/Newsletter/Colliers/Indian%20Property%20Market%20Overview%20-%20Quarter-III%202010.pdf

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/732/kolkataq310.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/i/kolkataq310.jpg/)

And here's a snapshot from NK Realtors for 2Q10. Note how every firm mentions a few different companies.

http://psgroup.in/upload/media/Newsletter/NK/Kolkata%20Market%20Report%20Mid%20Year%202010.pdf

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7711/nkrealtors2q10.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/i/nkrealtors2q10.jpg/)

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/7186/getimagedll.jpg

Office space absorption is decent for kolkata but it has to grow much faster if it needs to catch up with Hyderabad,Pune.

Bangalore is way ahead of the pack.

Dismal news to say the least! Surprising figures are for NCR though, expected it to be higher given its NCR and not Delhi only.

Regarding Bangalore, every time I visit the place I see new developments (in terms of real-estates and office spaces mainly), despite the same problems of inadequate infrastructure, absence of basic civic amenities, corruption, hounding Bangalore like other places (read Kolkata). Feel sorry to see the relative state of affairs really!

Dismal news to say the least! Surprising figures are for NCR though, expected it to be higher given its NCR and not Delhi only.

Regarding Bangalore, every time I visit the place I see new developments (in terms of real-estates and office spaces mainly), despite the same problems of inadequate infrastructure, absence of basic civic amenities, corruption, hounding Bangalore like other places (read Kolkata). Feel sorry to see the relative state of affairs really!

The growth for Bangalore over the past decade was one of the fastest in Asia alongside several Chinese and Middle east cities. A conducive business ecosystem is as important as basic/primary infrastructure and Bangalore has always lead the pack when it comes to technology based industries.

There is ample space for all round growth (future). While the airport will lead to rapid expansion of the city along NH8, the upcoming periphrel ring road will ensure all round growth in the decades to come.

The growth for Bangalore over the past decade was one of the fastest in Asia alongside several Chinese and Middle east cities. A conducive business ecosystem is as important as basic/primary infrastructure and Bangalore has always lead the pack when it comes to technology based industries.

Agreed, when it comes to technology Bangalore provides a very well-established business eco-system. But thats entirely based on a movable (human) resource - Bangalore runs the risk of getting "Bangalored" by some more enterprising city unless the former addresses the issue of inflated prices (of every possible thing), woeful infrastructure etc.


There is ample space for all round growth (future). While the airport will lead to rapid expansion of the city along NH8, the upcoming periphrel ring road will ensure all round growth in the decades to come.

There is apparently a doubt on the residential development along NH8 as this area is completely devoid of any ground water. I think ISRO training facility is coming up in this stretch - that may act as a catalyst to the development in this area.

^^AFAIK, few IT parks are coming up in and around Devnahalli!, theres a Trident Hotel, just outside the airport...and the area is developing and in the coming decade, it could be saturated!...as it happened in the case of whitefield!

^^AFAIK, few IT parks are coming up in and around Devnahalli!, theres a Trident Hotel, just outside the airport...and the area is developing and in the coming decade, it could be saturated!...as it happened in the case of whitefield!

^^ITIR is based around Devanahalli. Agreed, no city can grow on foreever. Someday Bangalore may hit the ceiling saturated but not before providing employment to more than 2-3 million people in the IT/ITES sectors alone!

Found in Today' Pratidin
http://epratidin.in/epaperimages/8122010/8122010-md-hr-5/2129140.JPG
http://epratidin.in/epaperimages/8122010/8122010-md-hr-5/2129140.JPG

Is this for the Road approaching to Infosys Site?

Yes that must be the infosys road,because E-W corridor is one that leads to uniword and beyond.Also interisting that they are constructing a connector between NS and EW.Thats good.

I must say you have very sharp eyes Samit!Nice find.

^^gr8 news!!!...btw which are the NS and EW corridor in R'haat?

wow that was fast.

^^gr8 news!!!...btw which are the NS and EW corridor in R'haat?

NS i guess would be one that starts from entry to rajarhat,past DLF curves and goes past synthesis business park and ends at city centre 2

The road going towards uniworld city and eastern fringes would be the EW corridor.

Kolkata saw strong hiring trends with the index surpassing the July-08 levels and moving up by 8% in Nov-10 when compared to Oct-10.
Source (http://w10.naukri.com/mailers/recruiter/JobSpeak_pdf/Jobspeak_Nov2010.pdf?othersrcp=11147&wExp=N)

The growth for Bangalore over the past decade was one of the fastest in Asia alongside several Chinese and Middle east cities. A conducive business ecosystem is as important as basic/primary infrastructure and Bangalore has always lead the pack when it comes to technology based industries.

There is ample space for all round growth (future). While the airport will lead to rapid expansion of the city along NH8, the upcoming periphrel ring road will ensure all round growth in the decades to come.

NH8 in bangalore??? since when???:nuts:

NH8 in bangalore??? since when???:nuts:

^^typo...it is NH7

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/5751/brakes.png

Synopsis: The 5-acre plot of the now-closed Bharat Brakes and Valves in central Kolkata has been sold to a private infrastructure company called Trinity Park. They have outbid the Webels rate of 20.5 crore and bought the land for 50 crore. An IT park is supposed to come up there. There was even a higher bid of 65 crore from another private company, but they had plans of using the plot for residential purpose as well. Govt. exercised some law to cut them out and sell the plot to Trinity Park, who will build only an IT Park over there.

Important thing to note over here is that the labor union (probably a first time in this state) is not averse to this deal.

^^

Any idea where exactly this Bharat Brakes and Valves plot is in?

Important thing to note over here is that the labor union (probably a first time in this state) is not averse to this deal.

Poribortoner hawa!!!.......:lol:

Important thing to note over here is that the labor union (probably a first time in this state) is not averse to this deal.

I doubt that. Just go along GT Road in Howrah. Factories have given way to some of the ugliest high rise buildings in the world. As long as all political parties and trade union "leaders" are kept happy by the businessmen, there is hardly any real problem. Some of those "cholche na cholbe na" are for public consumption and to show that the goons still have vocal power. The jhanda carrying workers usually end up being murgis.

^^

Any idea where exactly this Bharat Brakes and Valves plot is in?

Their address says 22 Gobra Road, Kolkata 14.

http://www.companyliquidator.gov.in/Sale%20Notice%20bharat.doc

I was talking to a consultant who works for a leading real estate MNC. Here's a couple of updates:
1) Cognizant may shortly announce leasing out of 3 lakh sqft of prime space in Sector V
2) PS group who paid 50 acres for the ex-satyam land of 2.77 acres in Sector V may not build a exclusive IT park after all! A star boutique hotel with commercial options are on the anvil on the property
3) We may not see anything happening on the Unitech convention center in New Town anytime soon

With the current demand for office space, prime projects such as Infospace & Ecospace will get saturated in the next 12-18 months which may lead to a crisis soon after and shoot up prices considerably.

IMO the govt should allocate smaller chunks of land 5 acres or more to existing developers to launch new projects in New Town.

@arijeetb Most real estate consultancy say that kolkata(and rest of india) will be facing rising vacancy rates in the next 4 yrs because of the huge amount of supply that is expected to come onstream.

Good to hear that is not the case here.

I was talking to a consultant who works for a leading real estate MNC. Here's a couple of updates:
1) Cognizant may shortly announce leasing out of 3 lakh sqft of prime space in Sector V
2) PS group who paid 50 acres for the ex-satyam land of 2.77 acres in Sector V may not build a exclusive IT park after all! A star boutique hotel with commercial options are on the anvil on the property
3) We may not see anything happening on the Unitech convention center in New Town anytime soon

With the current demand for office space, prime projects such as Infospace & Ecospace will get saturated in the next 12-18 months which may lead to a crisis soon after and shoot up prices considerably.

IMO the govt should allocate smaller chunks of land 5 acres or more to existing developers to launch new projects in New Town.


But what is the update of DLF IT Park2?
Did not heard anything recently :nuts:

But what is the update of DLF IT Park2?
Did not heard anything recently :nuts:

^^Phase 01 is complete but there are no occupants. I wonder if the SEZ status is restored for this property; if not then we can guess why there are no takers

@arijeetb Most real estate consultancy say that kolkata(and rest of india) will be facing rising vacancy rates in the next 4 yrs because of the huge amount of supply that is expected to come onstream.

Good to hear that is not the case here.

^^@avishar - Huge is a relative word; %occupancy (or vacancy levels) would depend on the market situation. Earlier 70% was considered good but I am sure that has increased post recession. With Ecospace and Infospace filling up, time is ripe for the construction of SP Infocity (50 acre SEZ in AA2) to start!

The Telegraph

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/5121/07012011540003.jpg

:banana:...dats a gr8 newz!!!