Bangalore Economy and Real Estate thread II

[IchimaruGin1]

Goldman Sachs To Shore Up Presence In Bangalore

The global marquee firm is close to a long-term office space lease deal with Prestige Estates in the city’s IT suburb.

Goldman Sachs is in advanced discussions with southern real estate developer Prestige Estates for long-term leasing of half-a-million (five lakh) sq ft of office space as the global financial behemoth strengthens back-end operations catering to its worldwide businesses out of Bangalore.

Multiple sources from banking and real estate circles told VCCircle that a large office space deal was in the offing between Goldman Sachs and Prestige at the latter's Shantiniketan project located in Bangalore's IT surburb of Whitefield.

This will be one of the biggest office space deals in India in recent months even as the economy recovers from the post-Lehman crisis. One source directly familiar with the development said, Goldman may be striking a lease deal at Rs 28-30 per sq ft as part of a long-term agreement, believed to be for 15 years renewable at the end of every five years.

While this translates into an annual rental payout of $4-5 million, the significant development is Goldman Sachs’ unfolding plans for Bangalore. The move probably suggests that Goldman is making the city a larger back office hub hiring more people in the process.

The new office space can accommodate up to 5000 employees even though it is not clear whether the fresh lease talks is purely for expansion purpose or if the existing 3,000 employees in Bangalore will be shifted to the new location.

A query sent today by VCCircle to Prestige Estates chairman Irfan Razack did not elicit a response at the time of posting this article. When VCCircle contacted Razack a few weeks back, querying on the lease deal with Goldman Sachs, he had said, “it is not true.” An email sent to Goldman Sachs remained unanswered till the time of writing this article.

Bangalore is already Goldman’s third largest location after Salt Lake City and Singapore.
Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman and Asia Pacific head Michael Evans was recently quoted by The Economic Times as saying that Bangalore has been a great success story for the firm. Goldman has over 3,000 employees now and rapidly moving towards 4,000, the report had said.

The city’s human talent, knowledge capital and Goldman’s own philosophy of investing in people have combined well in developing Bangalore as a critical hub for the Wall Street’s marquee firm.
For Prestige, which has filed its DRHP for a possible initial public offering (IPO), a potential deal with Goldman will be a big catch with long-term rental income. Till now, Goldman has been anchored at Embassy Golf Links, promoted by another real estate major Embassy Group.

More recently, software giant Oracle’s move to buy one million sqft of office space from Brigade Enterprises in another Bangalore neighbourhood was called off. This deal, if it had been clinched, would have marked the largest single office space transaction in India in recent times.

http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/gol...e-in-bangalore

[IchimaruGin1]

Kalido Sets Up Base in India

Kalido, the leading independent provider of enterprise data governance solutions, today formally announced its arrival in India, by launching its new facility and expansion of its India R&D operations in Bangalore. Kalido’s Bangalore office now houses more than 25 full-time employees, including resources for product development, verification, maintenance and support. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with offices in the US, London and India, Kalido continues to deliver value for customers around the world.

Nigel Turner, Vice President of products and services at Kalido, who was in India for the occasion said “Our Indian team has been indispensable enabling us to more quickly develop, deliver and support new versions of our product. By closely integrating the Bangalore office with our development centers in London and Boston, we are able to not only meet customer and market demands, but also to ensure that our software remains of the highest quality.” Kalido’s continued momentum in data governance has required it to significantly expand its Bangalore-based operations in order to keep up with increasing demand.

Ashish Vikram, General Manager, Kalido India said, “We have been able to build a highly productive engineering team in Bangalore that has enabled Kalido to deliver high quality software to its customers”. He further added “In today’s business environment both the quality of corporate data and the speed with which this data can be converted into actionable information has become increasingly important to our customers thereby increasing the relevance of Kalido’s solutions to them. I look forward to continued contributions from the Bangalore office towards retaining Kalido’s position as the data governance leader.”

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/521493

[IchimaruGin1]

How Indian cities fared in the downturn

Bangalore had also been badly hit by the crisis, with year-on-year credit growth at end-September 2009 down to 9% from the 27.1% growth it had posted during the previous 12 months.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/0921...ed-in-the.html

[avinash2060]

Goldman Sachs is in advanced stage of discussions to invest around US $ 200 million in Bangalore-based real estate player Century Group. The real estate fund of Goldman Sachs would invest into a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for commercially developing over 300 acre near Yelahanka in north Bangalore, which is in proximity to the International airport. Goldman Sachs, which has committed investments worth over $ 2 billion in India, has identified real estate and infrastructure as the key sectors for investment

[IchimaruGin1]

Alvogen expands its operations in India

Alvogen Inc. ("Alvogen"), the US-based generic pharmaceuticals company, today announced that it has expanded its operations in India, by establishing own clinical research organization ("CRO") and an API sourcing office in Bangalore. The CRO will specialize in the management of clinical trials and offer a complete range of clinical research services to Alvogen and third parties. The sourcing office will play a central role in further strengthening Alvogen's relationships with Indian suppliers for raw materials.

A world class team, with a proven track record, will lead Alvogen's operations in India. Dr. Saral Thangam MD, PhD, is the Managing Director of the new CRO and holds more than 15 years of experience in clinical trials. Prior to joining Alvogen, she was the Managing Director of Lotus Labs ("Lotus") in India from 2006-2010. Sudhir Pai and Fjalar Kristjansson have also joined Alvogen´s CRO, to support Group´s expansion in India. Pai is the co-founder and former Managing Director of Lotus and was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005, by industry magazine Biospectrum. Kristjansson holds a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry with more than 30 years of experience in life sciences.

The CRO will be managed by Alvogen´s subsidariary Norwich Pharmaceuticals under the name Norwich Clinical Services. The company will offer a complete range of clinical research capabilities, including Phase I - IV trials, bio-analytical studies and pharmacovigilance monitoring. The CRO will employ around 100 people, within its first year of operation. The Group´s sourcing office operates under the Alvogen name.

Commenting on today´s announcement, Robert Wessman, Executive Chairman of Alvogen said:

This strategic move provides us with valuable CRO capabilities in India, at the same time as it supports our fast growing third party business. Our goal is to build a world-class CRO in India that can enhance our global R&D work. After years of experience with the Indian team in creating and growing Lotus, we look forward to expand our new business in India."

http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrele...0042849215.htm

[thewanderer]

Industrial Finance Corporation of India plans to invest Rs. 1,000 crore to set a base in the proposed global financial district near Devanahalli on city outskirts, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh R. Nirani said on Wednesday.

IFCI’s facility would come up on 50 acres of the total 150-acre district, where more than a dozen banks, including global ones, have evinced interest to set up operations, besides insurance firms, financial institutions and stock market operators, he told reporters here.

The banks include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India, he said.

Commerce and Industry Secretary V. P. Baligar said for creating a land bank for industrialisation, the Government has already notified nearly 54,000 acres of land, while another 38,000 acres had been identified.

Mr. Baligar said seven new industrial estates would be established in the state under public—private—partnership model, and each of these had attracted three private bidders who responded by way of expression of interest.

“The Government would issue expression of interest to form another 12 industrial estates under PPP”, he said.

He also said hearing would be held next week on the issue of new mining leases pertaining to 300 hectares.

Existing and new mines can support about 50 million tonnes of steel—making per annum in the state.

Mr. Baligar also said there was a proposal to desilt the Tungabhadra River to provide water to some of the industries, as also to create check—dams downstream.

He said at the global investors’ meet being organised by the State Government in June, Rs. One lakh crore worth of PPP projects in infrastructure sector would be available for investors.

Source: http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states...icle413858.ece

[IchimaruGin1]

IFCI to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Bangalore Financial Dist

Industrial Finance Corporation of India plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up a base in the proposed global financial district here, state Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh R Nirani said today.

IFCI's facility would come up on 50 acres, where more than a dozen banks, including global ones, have evinced interest to set up operations, besides insurance firms, financial institutions and stock market operators, he told reporters here.

The banks include the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India, he said.

Commerce and Industry Secretary V P Baligar said, for creating a land bank for industrialisation, the Government has already notified nearly 54,000 acres, while another 38,000 acres had been identified.

Baligar said seven new industrial estates would be established in the state under public-private-partnership model, and each of these had attracted three private bidders who responded by way of expression of interest.

"The Government would issue expression of interest to form another 12 industrial estates under PPP," he said.

He also said hearing would be held next week on the issue of new mining leases pertaining to 300 hectares.

Existing and new mines can support about 50 million tonnes of steel-making per annum in the state.

He said at the global investors' meet being organised by the State Government in June, Rs one lakh crore worth of PPP projects in infrastructure sector would be available for investors.

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-dist/92722/on

[avinash2060]

Industrial Finance Corporation of India plans to invest Rs. 1,000 crore to set a base in the proposed global financial district near Devanahalli on city outskirts, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh R. Nirani said on Wednesday.

IFCI’s facility would come up on 50 acres of the total 150-acre district, where more than a dozen banks, including global ones, have evinced interest to set up operations, besides insurance firms, financial institutions and stock market operators, he told reporters here.

The banks include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India, he said.

Commerce and Industry Secretary V. P. Baligar said for creating a land bank for industrialisation, the Government has already notified nearly 54,000 acres of land, while another 38,000 acres had been identified.

Mr. Baligar said seven new industrial estates would be established in the state under public—private—partnership model, and each of these had attracted three private bidders who responded by way of expression of interest.

“The Government would issue expression of interest to form another 12 industrial estates under PPP”, he said.

He also said hearing would be held next week on the issue of new mining leases pertaining to 300 hectares.

Existing and new mines can support about 50 million tonnes of steel—making per annum in the state.

Mr. Baligar also said there was a proposal to desilt the Tungabhadra River to provide water to some of the industries, as also to create check—dams downstream.

He said at the global investors’ meet being organised by the State Government in June, Rs. One lakh crore worth of PPP projects in infrastructure sector would be available for investors.
source:http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states...icle413858.ece

[avinash2060]

Bangalore, May 24, DHNS:

The State High Level Clearance Committee headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, on Monday, cleared 60 project proposals driving in total investment of Rs 58,517 cr to the State.

The projects include two software development centres by the Infosys Technologies in Bangalore and a currency note paper manufacturing unit by the RBI in Mysore. Minister for Industries Murugesh Nirani, briefing the media after the meeting, said the projects had potential to create 3,07,205 jobs. The project promoters would sign memorandum of understanding with the government during the global investors’ meet scheduled for June 3 and 4. The companies have time of two years to make their projects operational.

The Infosys Technologies would set up a software development centre in 365 acres on Sarjapura Road at a cost of Rs 2,250 crore. The centre would generate 18,000 jobs. The software company would set up one more centre at the Devanahall Industrial Area at a cost of Rs 710 crore. Nestle India Limited is coming up with a unit producing instant noodles and mixed condiments in an area of 350 acres in Mysore with the total investment is Rs 349.23 crore.

The RBI would set up a currency note paper manufacturing unit in Mysore at a cost of Rs 694.94 crore and provide employment for 350. The committee had cleared 14 power projects with total capacity of around 6,000 MW. Of the 14, four each are thermal and gas based projects. Another six projects will generate power through non-conventional methods.

Nirani said there would not be shortage of power for the projects coming up. Many mega projects would come up with captive power generation units. They would generate power more than they required. The Water Resources Department would assess the requirement of water for each project and make necessary arrangements to fulfill the need.

The minister said that preparations for the global investors’ meet was on in full swing. The government had made arrangements for 3,000 investors assemble at the place. Industrialists Laxmi Mittal, Kumara mangalam Birla, Azim Premji, Sajjan Jindal, Vijay Mallya, Krish Gopalakrishna, Devi Prasad Shetty would attend the inauguration of the meet.
source:http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...-rs-58517.html

[thewanderer]

Bangalore: US carmaker General Motors (GM) will expand the workforce at its Indian technical centre. Karl Slym, president of GM India, on Friday said the company will recruit around 500 people for its technical centre in Bangalore. Currently, the company employs around 1,600 people at its Bangalore technical centre, which is engaged in vehicle and powertrain development, design and R&D activities.

“We will increase our headcount to over 2,000 people at our Bangalore technical centre by the end of this year,” he said on the sidelines of Global Investors Meet (GIM) hosted by the Karnataka government in Bangalore. The hiring will be for vehicle engineering, powertrain engineering, design and R&D sections in the technical centre.

At the end of the first quarter, Slym said the company has signed $500 million worth of contracts with its component suppliers in India. GM is sourcing components from Indian suppliers for its global operations spread across 200 countries. He also said General Motors would develop electric cars for the Indian market on its own, now that Reva Electric Car Company has parted ways with it. The company’s technical centre in Bangalore will also take part in developing electric vehicle along with the company’s global R&D network headquartered in Detroit.

“I would like to say that you will start to see opportunities for sale of electric vehicles or at least demonstration in India next year,” Slym said. He said this electric vehicle would be a ‘pure’ GM car. Asked if GM plans to launch a car to directly compete with Tata Nano, Slym said, “It’s true that we are looking at (launching) cars in various different segments.” Slym also added that GM is trying to look at something which is not necessarily from the viewpoint of prices but focused on the “value side of it”, adding, he does not rule out launching a car in “the lower segment” other than its newly launche dmodel Beat. .

Three years ago, the company told that it would increase its component sourcing from India to $1 billion by 2010. But due to economic recession primarily in the US and European markets, the company could not achieve the target, said P Balendran, vice president of GM India.

Source

[thewanderer]

Bangalore, Jun 6: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in partnership with the state government will hold a two-day national-level innovation summit here from June 17.



S Gopalakrishnan, chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys Technologies, and chairman, CII-Southern region, said that the city was an appropriate location as 60 per cent of the research and development professionals of the country are here. The conference will provide a platform for “new innovation models”, like those from the open source domain, he said. The conference will also showcase innovation from other fields such as sports and arts,” he added.



In the field of industrial research India is on par with China, while in academic research India has long way to go, said Gopalakrishnan. Further, he observed that the global economic downturn has proved beneficial to emerging economies like India where lacalization has an interesting role localisation is needed, he said.



Students participating in the sixth edition of the summit will be offered a subsidy and a competition for students will be a highlight of the event, he said.

Source

[thewanderer]

The 10th edition of Bangalore India Bio 2010, India's premier biotechnology event concluded on a positive note, according to the organizers.

The key highlights of the three-day event held between June 2 and 5, 2010 included the multi-track conference comprising 25 sessions attended by 738 delegates from across the globe. There were 21 podium presentations and over 135 international and national speakers. There were 5,000 business visitors who attended the event.

The Bio-Partnering initiative received 705 business meetings with 355 delegates attending this session only. The participation from 23 countries included Germany, Europe, Canada, UK, USA, Australia, South America and South East Asia.

The Exhibition attracted 154 National and International organizations to show case their innovation. The Bio – Excellence award instituted by the department of IT-BT & ST, Govt. of Karnataka were given to Biocon for excellence in the Healthcare sector, Metahelix Life Sciences for excellence in the Agri-biotech sector, Advanced Enzymes in the Industrial Biotech sector and Jubiliant Biosys in the Biotech Services sector.

The poster session attracted 68 Young Researchers who presented their innovation. For the first time the department of IT-BT & ST, Govt. of Karnataka gave a Laptop, a Notebook and a blackberry to the winner of Best Poster, 1st runner-up and the second runner-up respectively. The winners were Soumik Siddhanta from JNCASR, Dr Vasudheva Reddy Akepati from Weizmann Institute if Science, Israel (first runner-up) and Dr Shivaraj S M from TERI University, New Delhi (second runner-up).

For the Bio-Quiz, which was introduced for this edition had 64 colleges across Karnataka and 128 students participated.

Bangalore Bio event is annually organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications. This year’s theme was ‘Biotech for a better tomorrow’.

According to Ashok Kumar C Manoli, Karnataka Principal Secretary for information technology, biotechnology and Science & Technology this year event was one of the best editions because it played a definitive role in attracting attention for partnerships.

The event has further reiterated that Karnataka and India are the Biotech hubs for domestic and global organizations. With the response that Bangalore INDIA Bio 2010 received, it is only obvious that the event is here to stay and will be a greater success in 2011, he added.

According to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson, Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology & CMD Biocon, the 10th edition was a successful business event and it has truly evolved into a B2B platform.

“We will continue to support the event which has evolved from Bangalore Bio to Bangalore INDIA Bio. We will work towards getting more participants from China, as we want India and China to work together rather than competing with each other”, said Dr. Vijay Chandru - Chairman and CEO, Strand Life Sciences and President, ABLE.

Source

[IchimaruGin1]

EADS to shift some Eurofighter development projects to India

BERLIN: European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV (EADS) would transfer some of the development projects of its advanced fourth generation Eurofighter Typhoon or other military aircraft to India soon, a top company official said on Thursday.

"We will transfer some of our development projects, which we have in Europe for Eurofighter or other military aircraft to India, where we have set up a military research and development (R&D) centre in Bangalore," EADS chief executive (defence & security) Stefan Zoller told IANS here.

The Netherlands-based European aerospace corporation was created in 2000 by merging Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany (excluding the MTU engine business) and Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (CASA) of Spain.

Asserting that the consortium's R&D activities were independent of its bid for the 126 medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), Zoller said leveraging the high-skilled Indian talent and the potential of the emerging Indian aerospace industry would lead to developing new technologies and creation of jobs.

"If we win the IAF order, the development of newer versions of Typhoon for India and global market will result in creation of about 20,000 direct jobs, as the bid involves the winner re-investing 50 percent of the deal in India's defence manufacturing industry," Zoller said at the 100th Berlin international air show.

Besides Eurofighter, the US-based Lockheed Martin F-16s and Boeing's F/A-18IN Super Hornet, French D'Assault's Rafale, Swiss SAAB's Gripen and Russian MiG-35 are the other five contenders for the IAF order, estimated to be $10-12 billion.

The IAF plans to acquire 18 of these in ready-to-fly condition, with the remaining 118 being manufactured by the Indian defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) under technology transfer and licensed production, to replace its ageing Russian MiG-21 fleet and enhance its strike capability.

"We will transfer 60 percent of the Eurofighter technology to India if Typhoon wins the bid. Our long-term strategy is to partner with the Indian aerospace industry for our global market, as we consider the Indian talent and resources as an ideal source for knowhow and to develop newer technologies," Zoller said.

The consortium is keen on building a centre of competence and a centre of excellence in Bangalore through its Indian subsidiary to design and develop next-generation products and solutions to its European and global markets.

"We also want to establish a division of our defence and security wing in India independent of the IAF order for Typhoon not to duplicate what we are doing in Europe but replicate its business model to leverage the potential of the Indian aerospace industry through joint ventures and offset projects," Zoller added

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/6031803.cms

[thewanderer]

Jun 18, 2010 (M2 EQUITYBITES via COMTEX) --

Automotive safety systems supplier Autoliv Inc (NYSE: ALV | PowerRating)(STO:ALIVSDB) announced Friday the opening of the company's new engineering and production facility in Bangalore, India.

This new facility will be the company's first safety centre and a new airbag and seatbelt assembly unit, said the company.

The company stated the new Bangalore plant will support all vehicle manufacturers in India with testing and product development in an effort to improve safety for small cars.

According to the company, this facility is its ninth technical centre and one of three specialising in small car safety. It is also the second plant for airbag production in India.

In addition, the company said that its sales in India are expected to improve by 36% this year to over USD100m. Major customers include Maruti-Suzuki, Mahindra, Tata, Toyota, Hyundai, Fiat, Ford, GM and Nissan.

Source

[thewanderer]

NEW DELHI: German auto major Daimler Group firm Mercedes-Benz today said it will hire about 250 engineers for its research and development centre in Bangalore during this year to support its global facility.
"We have a R&D centre in Bangalore, which is working in association with our global development centre in Germany... We will enhance the strength of the Bangalore unit to 650 engineers by the end of this year," Mercedes-Benz India General Manager (Product Homologation) Prakash Vermali told reporters on the sidelines of a SIAM summit here.

At present, the R&D centre employs about 400 people, he added.

The facility is dedicated to passenger cars only, and it currently works in conjunction with Daimler's German unit in many areas, including development of powertrains, Vermali said.

The expansion of the centre is being carried out as part of Daimler's overall strategy to focus on the Asian market, especially India and China, he added.

On introduction of new technologies, Daimler Manager (Emission) Michael Anger said the company has introduced a diesel filter in Europe to reduce emission of harmful particles from its cars.

"We are considering to introduce this filter in India. It will substantially minimise the emission of ... harmful particles from a diesel car. The issue is availability of clean fuel, without which the technology will not work," he added.

Source

[thewanderer]

Our Bureau

Hyderabad June 29

GE Healthcare, a medical technologies and services company, will be investing $50 million to set up a facility in Bangalore for design and manufacture of modern PET/CT molecular imaging (OOTC:MLRIQ) systems used for early detection of cancer, heart diseases and brain disorders.

The company is also partnering with Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) , a California-based company engaged in manufacturer of medical devices for treating cancer, and Hyderabad-based Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (OOTC:MCLS) (KIMS), to set up 10 oncology centres across the country with an investment of Rs 200 crore.

Ms Terri S. Bresenham, Vice-President, Molecular Imaging, GE (NYSE:GE) Healthcare, said the Bangalore facility is likely to be set up in the next two to three years.

“The idea behind setting up the facility in India is that these medical equipment will cost about 30-40 per cent cheaper,” she told presspersons here on Tuesday.

“It is a high-end product. What we wish to do is design a product with the same capability but at a cheaper cost so that cancer detection and treatment becomes more affordable in India. We will be considering exporting some of the units we manufacture at the Bangalore facility to neighbouring markets,” Mr V. Raja, President and CEO, GE Healthcare, South Asia and Managing Director, Wipro GE Healthcare, said.

3-way alliance

On the three-way partnership, he said the project will be chiefly spearheaded by KIMS, with technology and financial support from the two other partners. The plan is to set up initially 10 ‘See and Treat' oncology centres in the next two to three years, the first to come up at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh in the next three months. The other locations identified for these centres, which will provide diagnostic services at relatively cheaper costs, include Bhubaneshwar, Thrissur (Kerala), Pune, Nagpur, Raipur, Indore, Patna and Coimbatore.

The network of centres will have one advanced GE PET/CT molecular imaging system each for detecting the disease at the earliest and three centrally located cyclotrons to produce bio-markets for disease detection. Several of these centres will be equipped with radiotherapy and radio-surgery technology from Varian.

“The idea is to cut costs. For example, we will set up only three cyclotrons for 10 centres and will depend on logistics planning to transfer the isotope,” according to Dr B. Bhaskar Rao, Managing Director of KIMS.

Source

[thewanderer]

By Staff Reporter Published: June 30 2010

According to a report by the retail estate research firm, Cushman & Wakefield, Bangalore is the top real estate destination for commercial and industrial sectors. The real estate market in Bangalore is all set to boom once again!


Real estate was the worst hit due to global economic recession, but now slowly things are getting back to normal. With India's economic recovery well under way, the real estate market is also beginning to stabilize. According to a report by the retail estate research firm, Cushman & Wakefield, Bangalore is the top real estate destination for commercial and industrial sectors. It has become third preference for residential and hospitality sectors in India for real estate investment. The report reinforces the result by adding that Bangalore may witness the demand of 34 million sq. ft. for office space in the next three years.

The realty sector is anticipated to grow at the rate of 30 percent annually over the next decade, which will attract foreign investment worth $30 billion, with a number of IT parks and residential townships being constructed across the city, real estate agents feel that this is the right time to invest as the prices aren’t too high.

The report suggests a revival of demand in commercial real estate by corporates and multinationals. “Market is improving as of now because of these developments happening because of the booming IT sector, so this is the right time to invest and to buy. Even the IT and ITes industries are considering expansion plans and evaluating opportunities available in Bangalore property market,” Said Anil Muthanna, a real estate agent.

The population of Bangalore has increased by 35% in last seven years and is estimated to near 10 million in next two years. Due to the large scale migration and with more and more people job seekers coming to Bangalore; this has opened avenues for many real estate developers to build residential and commercial properties across the city.

“The biggest positive outcome of the slowdown is the sobering down of price levels. The market is tilting to becoming more buyer friendly. There was a point of time when you just couldn’t think of owning a luxurious two bedroom apartment in Bangalore but the prices have sobered down, but there is a good chance that prices will resurrect and hit the roof again,” Explains Anil.

Properties priced between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 60 lakh are doing extremely well. And despite a 10% revision in price most of the builders are seeing good sales. In fact, all the property developers have commenced with their plans of expansion in Bangalore for growing residential and commercial needs.

Prices had hit rock bottom last year due to slackening demand of property but according to sources it will not reduce any further now as these segments hold huge potential. Real estate builders are now developing projects for both high-end and upper middle class segments. The property market of Bangalore is expected to be vibrant by the end of this year by most of the real estate developers.

Source

[gentem]

City a campus for overseas docs
Jayashree Nandi, TNN, Sep 23, 2010, 12.03am IST

BANGALORE: Fidan will soon be the only glaucoma specialist in Azerbaijan. She is one of the many international ophthalmologists who has come to Bangalore for a short-term course in glaucoma. The reason for choosing India? The huge number of patients and the variety of diseases that they can see. Other reasons are, of course, that the few institutions that offer these short-term courses are in India.

At Narayana Nethralaya, senior ophthalmologists from almost all parts of the world, including small countries like East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Romania and Vietnam, attend these courses here. In fact, the doctor from Papua New Guinea was the only ophthalmologist in that country. Presently, there are four international students at the hospital from Azerbaijan, Mexico and two from Germany. They have all come to improve their skills in a particular stream of ophthalmology.

Juan from Mexico, for instance, is studying issues with the cornea and corneal diseases like keratoconus. "The number of patients we see is far less than in Mexico, but the condition of infectious eye diseases is almost the same because of the high population," he said.

VAST EXPERIENCE

According to German doctors, the huge volume of patients and the experience of Indian doctors pulls them to India. "I do maybe one mature cataract case in a year, but here doctors do two or three per day. The difference is huge. This could be because of early access to medical care, early diagnosis and affordability in Europe," he explained. He and his wife, also an ophthalmologist, have come to Nethralaya to explore and learn from the variety of cases that Indian doctors deal with.

According to Dr Mathew Kurian K, medical superintendent and consultant, cataract and refractive lens surgery and medical retina director, Phaco Academy, Narayana Nethralaya, the number of international students has increased a lot in the past couple of years. "We have almost covered the whole map, with students coming both from big and small countries to develop expertise in their areas of weakness. The courses are customized for them and we have a special wet laboratory in the centre, where they can practice surgery," he said.

LANGUAGE NO ISSUE

Interest is also high in India because almost all the doctors speak English. "Language is never a problem here. All doctors and nurses speak English so it's much easier for us to understand and learn," added Dr Juan. In China, for instance, though there are around 28,000 ophthalmologists, only 500 to 600 perform phaco surgeries. But most of them speak only Chinese, so studying there is not as comfortable.

"Here, doctors are also more open to sharing their experiences however senior they are, that obviously helps us a lot," added Fidan from Azerbaijan. The doctors usually come for two to three months and are put up at the hostel adjoining the hospital. They need registration with the Karnataka Medical Council before starting their course, which is facilitated by the hospital. Visa and travel arrangements are made by the doctors themselves, who usually come on short-term visa.

India also has the largest number of diabetes cases and all ophthalmological problems can be handled by doctors here. "One of the main reasons for international doctors coming here is that India has kept on par with the latest technology. It has been the biggest turnaround. Earlier, we had volume of cases but no technology. The other reasons are that they like our culture and find South India safer than other parts of India. Bangalore is far more cosmopolitan and foreigner-friendly," said vice-chairman, Narayana Nethralaya, Dr Rohit Shetty.

According to the international doctors, they found out about the courses from the internet and word-of-mouth. The international fellows on the waiting list are from UK, US, Italy, Yemen, Austria and Israel. A very high number of fellows come from Indonesia, Romania and Vietnam.


Read more: City a campus for overseas docs - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...#ixzz10KMv9mLN

Bangalore - Medical knowledge capital of Asia. Or is it Delhi AIIMS??

[gentem]

Residential component at $66.5bn of realty pie
TNN, Sep 25, 2010, 04.42am IST

MUMBAI: A Real Estate Intelligence Service ( REIS) report prepared by Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj says the total market value of under-construction projects in India has crossed the $100-billion mark.

The market value and costs of development have been estimated at prevalent property prices and costs of construction, considering the variance in asset classes and geographical locations, it added.

The residential component contributes 66% ($66.5 billion) of this $ 101.3 billion, while the rest is contributed to by commercial office and retail space combined. The premium segment comprises only 4% of the saleable area being developed, but to 24% of the market value. "While NCR- Delhi leads in terms of volume of residential properties being developed, Mumbai contributes a larger share to the market value," it said.

On the other hand, the market value of commercial office and retail under construction has remained range-bound during 2006-2010 due to the effect of an increase in construction activity offset by a fall in capital values. "However, the contribution of residential has amplified due to a confluence of increase in construction activity and rapid recovery of property prices," the report said.

The market value of commercial (office and retail) real estate under construction is $34.8 billion and commercial office space under development contributes to 74% of the estimated market value being developed in the commercial sector.

"As of 2Q10, Tier-I cities of Mumbai, NCR-Delhi and Bangalore contsribute to 70% of the market value of under-construction commercial office space, while Tier II cities of Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata contribute to 21% of the pie. Other investment grade developments in Tier III cities contribute to a mere 9% of the pan-India market value being developed in India today."

According to the report, since 2007-08, a total foreign direct investment of $7.82 billion (over Rs 35,000 crore) has been put into housing and real estate in India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...ow/6623592.cms

[engineer.akash]

Retail space demand rises in India

Demand in retail space escalates in NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru

According to Cushman & Wakefield Research, retail market size in India will approximately be $600 billion in 2010. The organized retail market in the country will account for $50 billion depending on private final consumption expenditure. Additionally, NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru are anticipated to account for about 37% of the total demand in India.

The report adds that the retail space will reach 55 million sq. ft in all; top seven cities of the country will witness approximately 53%.

The highest cumulative demand is likely to be seen in Bengaluru for mall space at approximately 7.7 million sq. ft by the year 2014. Next is Mumbai with demand escalating to around 6.5 million sq. ft.

At present, there are over 200 malls spread across India. The total retail space amounting for this is approximately 56 million sq. ft. 30% of the mall supply in the country will be accounted from NCR itself.

The overall mall supply likely to take place is around 93 million sq. ft. NCR. Over the next 5 years, Pune (located closely in Mumbai) will see the highest demand-supply gap. In the retail segments, the Apparels and Fashion Accessories category is expected to bring to highest share of retail space. This will be followed by the Food and Grocery segment. In the long run, these categories will make up for almost 49% of the total retail space.

The retail segment is likely to witness further growth and development in the country with major brands mushrooming in cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.

Source