Kolkata Economy and Real Estate Thread

[IchimaruGin1]

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...-deals_1360682

[IchimaruGin1]

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.

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...a-plan_1362214

[IchimaruGin1]

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/?...n+two+quarters

[rupakd]

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

[rupakd]

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

[IchimaruGin1]

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/...ow/5744021.cms

[IchimaruGin1]

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/n...p?newsid=12642

[IchimaruGin1]

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/...0450791300.htm

[India2010]

is sector V fully IT ?

[SarafIndian]

Originally Posted by India2010

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..

[rupakd]

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

[arijeetb]

Originally Posted by IchimaruGin1

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/...0450791300.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.

[IchimaruGin1]

Originally Posted by arijeetb

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

[avishar]

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.

[IchimaruGin1]

Originally Posted by avishar

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.

[arijeetb]

Originally Posted by avishar

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!

[rupakd]

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

[SarafIndian]

Taiwan to open Trade Office in Kolkata




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[rupakd]

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

[SarafIndian]

Hindustan Motors to export LCVs to Bangladesh