Pune Projects Thread

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai/Delhi: The Tata-Fiat alliance is moving into second gear. The automobile majors have agreed to form a joint venture to manufacture passenger cars, diesel engines and transmissions for the Indian and overseas markets. They have also agreed to explore possibilities of a similar partnership in Argentina.
The JV—to be based in Ranjangaon (Pune)—is expected to begin production of a premium compact car, the Fiat Grande Punto by early 2008. This will be followed by a new Fiat sedan. Tata Motors, which is already running out of capacity at its own plant in Pune, will also manufacture its cars at the facility.
Though the firms did not divulge the investment required for this project, experts believe it could be upwards of Rs 2,500 crore. Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors, said, “The details of the joint venture like the investments are being worked out and we will be in a position to talk of it when the agreement is formalised. The companies will hold an equal stake in the JV.’’
The Ranjangaon facility—when it operates at full capacity—will roll out 1 lakh cars and 2.5 lakh engines and transmissions per annum. De Filippis Giovanni managing director Fiat India said, “Diesel engines from the Ranjangaon plant will also be supplied to Tata cars manufactured at their Pune plant.’’
Fiat is considering to ‘optimise’ its plant at Kurla. De Filippis said, “We have faced a lot of problems with the Kurla plant and there is a lot of idle capacity here. The plant and operations are currently being reviewed.’’
They will undertake a 60-day study on the possibility of industrial and commercial cooperation in Latin America, which traditionally has been a big market for the Italian automaker. The study will be focused on utility vehicles and pick-ups, and on exploring the opportunity of using Fiat’s existing production facilities in Cordoba, Argentina.
“This is the beginning of what promises to be a farreaching, long-term relationship between the Fiat group and Tata Motors,’’ Tata group chairman Ratan N Tata said.


TWO TO TANGO

The firms have agreed to explore possibilities of a similar partnership in Argentina. The joint venture will be based in Ranjangaon and is expected to begin production by early 2008. The companies will hold an equal stake in the JV.

[grimmm]

Source: Hindu

Maharashtra, which has fallen to the fifth position in software exports from the country, is all set to woo major IT companies to the State.

Talking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr Arvind Kumar, IT Secretary, said through these efforts, Microsoft is expected to begin its software development centre in Pune. He said an investment of $150 million is expected and that the final details are being worked out. He said this would not be in the STPI (Software Technology Park of India).

He said a delegation from IBM had also visited the State and was actively looking at opportunities here.

Mr Arvind Kumar, who was in the city to participate in InCSights 2006, organised by the Computer Society of India, said that Maharashtra, which had pioneered in software exports with the setting up of the Santacruz Export Processing Zone, had slipped to the fifth position. Cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Noida were doing well while Maharashtra now accounted only for half of Karnataka's software exports.

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Bill Gates’ Microsoft to open shop in Pune

Express News Service

Pune, July 26: THE Big Brother of software industry Microsoft Corp has finally decided to incorporate Pune on its global map and is expected to set up the first development centre in the city by this year-end. ‘‘Microsoft is expected to invest around Rs 1,000 crore for setting up its development centre by end of 2006,’’ Maharashtra IT secretary Arvind Kumar said.

The $44.28-billion software giant’s decision comes after the State government gave an assurance to it that adequate measures will be taken to safeguard its intellectual properties. ‘‘We have also given them an assurance that the company can bid for any government contracts,’’ Kumar said.

Currently, Microsoft has a development centre in Hyderabad — the biggest one outside its headquarters in Redmond in the US — with over 1,000 employees and it has already stated that it plans to double the headcount in India over a period of three years.

[p.raghavendra6]

I think there are some other more pressing issues need to be solved by PMC, rather than bringing wi-fi.

works on karve road, flyovers on university road are going on and on......................................

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Pune’s GDP at Rs 46,000 is 50 pc higher than India’s

Express News Service

Pune, July 27: Pune’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is about Rs 46,000 which is 50 per cent higher than the country’s per capita income. It is higher than Hyderabad’s and on par with Bangalore’s. Also, Pune has the least income disparity between its rich and poor, says the Environmental Status Report for 2005-06 released by the Pune Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

The GDP, underlining the size of the city’s economy and its standard of living, can trace a direct correlation with its IT boom and sizeable investment in the automobile, electronic, software, bio-technology, large and small-scale companies. It is also emerging as a prominent centre for BPO companies.


The projected software export is estimated at Rs 9,000 crore in 2006-07, up from Rs 7,500 crore last year. While 109 IT companies have made their offices in Pune, another 100 companies are in the process of setting up base here. The overall industrial sector too has witnessed a boom time with 1,700 new companies setting up base here — a 25 per cent growth.

The educational sector has also helped the city’s economic growth. Pune has attracted about 8,000 foreign students from 62 countries and this migration has resulted in a significant surge in business - hotels, garments, stationery, theatres and transport.

This has translated to higher tax collection, service tax and income tax. Service tax collected in 2005-06 is Rs 630 crore, a 85 per cent rise as compared to the previous year. Similarly, income tax collection has increased by 27 per cent and stands at Rs 6,710 crore. I-T officials have pegged the current year’s collection target at Rs 8,414 crore.

The flip side though is the rising population that is threatening to spoil the city’s party. In the past five years, the estimated growth in the population is 24 per cent — up from 23,76,900 in 2001 to 31,87,800 in 2005. Similarly, the migrating population has doubled over the past five years from 43,900 in 2001 to 88,200 in 2005.

Pune is a thriving base for horticulture and floriculture activities. It is also emerging as an agri-business centre with daily transaction of Rs two crore. This includes fruits, vegetables and groceries.
The city has about 6,000 licensed vendors of vegetables and fruits.




http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=194461

[cncity]

Edited

[Suncity]

That heading is so misleading.

How can Pune's GDP be 50 pc higher than India's? It is the per capita as specified in the article.

As of 2001 the city had a population of 2,540,069. The next census is in 2011. So how did they get the figure of 3,187,800 in 2005?

[cncity]

Yes Suncity, the heading's very misleading ...it should be the GDP per capita.

Pune Population according to Wikepedia and past Newspaper articles is around 4.5 million , 4485000 to be precise in 2005 ...

The figure of 3,187,800 for 2005 does not include the population of Pimpri-Chichwad. A lot of different articles sometimes dont include the population of Pimpri Chichwad (PCMC) just because it is a different Municipality than Pune's ( PMC). While some newspaper do include it as it is a part of Pune. There might soon be a merger of both the municipalites. Pimpri chinchwad had a population of about 1.2 million in 2001. so the estimates for 2005 for the whole of Pune city is about 4.5 million.

[Suncity]

As far as tax collection is concerned the Chief Commissionerate Pune Region encompasses the entire state excluding Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur. It comprises 18 districts including Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Nashik, Pune, Raigad, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg, Solapur and Thane.

[cncity]

Besides the 3 malls in Pune right now - Pune Central ( 160,000 sq ft ) and Nucleus (300,000 sq ft ), City Mall (100,000 )sq ft there are 18 more malls coming up in the city,, most of them under construction. Of these The Connaught Place already opened up earlier this year.

There are other big box stores already present like Pyraminds (2), Westside, Lifestyle, Shoppers stop ( 2 ) and Globus has plans to come up with a store in the future, while there are 7 multiplexes in the city, none of the in the 3 malls, all stand alone multiplexes. - Inox , E-Sqaure, City Pride ( 2) , Gold Adlabs , Mangala, Fame.

There is also another 1 Million sq ft mall planned by Kumar builders for the which the design should be out in the next few of months and West End mall in Aundh ( 245,000 sq ft ) which is not included in the list below.

[Babji]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...3101150300.htm
GM finalises deal with Maharashtra
Sudha Menon

Pune , July 30

General Motors has finalised a deal with the Maharashtra Government to locate its second manufacturing facility in the State.

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has already earmarked 300 acres for the greenfield plant, after the company came to an agreement with the Government over the terms for the deal, a top MIDC official said.

"The company is expected to sign an MOU with the State Government to this effect in the next few days," the MIDC official said. The 300-acre land is believed to be at the Talegaon Industrial Estate, about 50 km from here.

For General Motors, the proposed new plant could be the first step towards its stated aim of garnering a 10 per cent share of the domestic car market by 2010, with plans being finalised to manufacture Daewoo's Matiz, under the Chevy Spark brand.

The Spark is expected to go into initial production at GM's Halol facility by March 2007, but will be shifted out to the new plant, sources said. The plant will also eventually manufacture a range of other products from the GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Company stables.

"We are still in the process of finalising our manufacturing footprint in India and I don't want to comment on this at the moment," the General Motors President, Mr Rajeev Chaba, said when contacted.

Talented workforce: The company's decision to locate the new plant at Talegaon is believed to be largely based on the fact that the region has traditionally been an automotive hub. Located close to Pune, the company is believed to be betting on the region's large talent pool of skilled workforce in the automotive space for its new plant.

[cncity]

Thats gr8 news for Pune..3 big companies planning to set up shop in Pune in a week.... Microsoft with Rs 1000 cr investment, then Tata-Fiat Manufacturing plant and now GM's manufacturing plant ..and IBM planning to expand base from the already huge campus they have in the city...thats going to put Pune on the world map in the auto industry . Telco, Mercedez Benz, Fiat, GM, along with two major 2-wheeler companies.. Bajaj , Kinetic and Bajaj Tempo ..India's first Auto cluster and Bharat Forge..looks promising for the city.

Hopefully the infrastructure develops along with these developments

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Pune, August 1: Municipal Commissioner Nitin Kareer has forwarded a proposal to the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Standing Committee for appointment of a consultant to prepare a master plan for launching the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city at large scale.

The Pune Municipal Corporation has already moved steps in this direction by introducing the pilot project of BRTS on Solapur and Satara roads. The implementation of the BRTS project will be done by the civic administration in three years. Kareer has suggested the names of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and Bhosari based Central Institute for Road Transport (CIRT) as consultant for the master plan.

In his proposal, Kareer has stated that considering the traffic situation in the city there is a need to prepare a Bus Rapid Transit System network for which a master plan should be in place. He also added that both IIT, Delhi and CIRT have forwarded a proposal to the PMC for preparing the master plan.

The master plan itself will be prepared by both the bodies in a period of one year at a cost of Rs 30 lakhs plus 12.24 per cent service tax. The master plan will include consolidation of the Bus Rapid Transit System reports prepared by the Pune Municipal Corporation, preparing a BRTS network, preparing maps, identifying and detail designing of bus-stops, parking, service roads and cycle tracks as well as estimating the cost.

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By Abhay Vaidya/ TNN

Pune: In an extraordinary real estate initiative, multiple ecological and technological challenges are being addressed in the construction of India’s first infotech-driven megacity, coming up 60 km west of Pune.
The widespread use of Geographical Information System (GIS) technologies in the planning and construction of the massive Lavasa Lake City has emerged as one of the key highlights of the new satellite township. GIS refers to powerful, infotech-based tools used for effective urban design and planning.
“It (Lavasa project) is one of the few examples in the world where GIS technologies are being used in raising an entire city from scratch,” Lavasa Corporation’s architect and urban designer Anubandh Hambarde told a gathering of IT professionals here on Wednesday.
At the same time, Hambarde acknowledged that the Lavasa planners needed to be extremely careful as they were making major modifications to the hilly terrain on which the township was based. Ensuring that Pune’s new satellite township with its projected lakhplus population does not pollute one of the main sources of water to Pune city (Warasgaon dam) is one of the major challenges facing planners, Hambarde said.
The thrust of his presentation at the Computer Society of India’s (Pune chapter) INCSights 2006 seminar was on the innovative use of GIS technologies in the planning and construction of Lavasa Lake City.
Planned on 4,000 hectares of hilly terrain, the Lake City is rapidly coming up as Pune’s satellite township in the Mulshi taluka of Pune district. Such is its scale that the city has been designed to have 22,000 properties, a residential population of 1.10 lakh, an anticipated annual tourist flow of four lakh people and a 15-20 km long lake.
Relaxing and energetic would be the character of the lake city, which would target property buyers from the aspirational middle class to the high income families. Properties would range from apartments to two-acre estate homes with adequate low-cost housing for housemaids and other service staff.
The lake city has already constructed its own mini-dam (Dasve), created out of the submergence of the Warasgaon dam — one of the sources of drinking water supply to Pune city. Hambarde said that ensuring the township does not pollute this source is among the major challenges facing planners. “We are imposing some kind of danger to the water supply of Pune. We have to be very sensitive to ensure that water purity for Pune city is maintained,” he said while acknowledging the ecological implications of the project.
Hambarde said Lavasa’s GIS team headed by G.S. Rao has created an infotech backbone for every aspect of the city’s planning and construction, ranging from e-governance, taxation, street naming and addressing system to preventive maintenance.

SATELLITE TOWNSHIP



•Location: 60 km west of Pune in Mulshi taluka

•Area: 4,000 hectares

• Size: 22,000 properties, 1.10 lakh residential population

•Anticipated annual tourist flow: 4 lakh

•Township to house hotels, retail malls, IT and BT parks

• 15-km long lake for captive water body

•Infotech-driven urban planning, systems

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British Business Group set up to increase bilateral trade, woo investments

Express News Service

Pune, August 2: IT may sound cliche, but even the British have started accepting Pune’s potential as a business rival to the Silicon Capital of India — Bangalore. ‘‘Puneites have a lot to be proud of... Pune can be a real rival for Bangalore,’’ British deputy high commissioner Vicki Treadell said.

The reason: Unlike Bangalore, Pune has IT, manufacturing and other sectors. ‘‘This city has the potential to be not just the second city of Maharashtra, but a significant city of India,’’ Treadell, who inaugurated the British Business Group in Pune on Tuesday night, said.


The intentions are also clear — from formally opening a trade office in the city in the next three months to visit by British delegations in automotive industry in September and January and an all-women’s delegation in October — the British Business Group (BBG) will try and attract investment from the UK companies to Pune.

‘‘This will be followed by a delegation focusing on the scope and chances of investment in the construction sector,’’ BBG chairperson Vandana Saxena Poria said.

‘‘This forum will work towards removing the obstacles and impediments that come on the way of movement of capital, goods and personnel. We will take up the issues at appropriate political levels and see that changes can be made for facilitating smooth transaction of businesses among the two countries,’’ Treadell said.

Interestingly, Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from India are more to the UK. According to Treadell, about 60 per cent of the Indian investments in Europe is in the UK. Treadell further said the British companies are keenly looking at the Indian automotive sector, pharma industry and business process outsourcing (BPO).

However, Pune’s infrastructure and bureaucratic red-tape came in for some criticism. ‘‘While it takes a single day to renew visas in Mumbai the same takes two-three months in Pune,’’ she said, but was quick to add: ‘‘Pune has more open space and scope for developing its infrastructure.’’

The forum will meet on the first Tuesdays of every month and will look at real penetration of business interest in Pune. There are 67 British companies in Pune and 115 with the UK links.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=195312

[Babji]

http://www.business-standard.com/com...Left=0&chkFlg=
GM lines up Rs 1,300 cr for Pune plant

General Motors, the world’s largest car-maker, has finally decided to produce its small car — Chevrolet Spark — at Talegaon, near Pune, in Maharashtra. The company will invest Rs 1,300 crore inr setting up a unit to manufacture the vehicle.

The plant, with an initial capacity to make 45,000 cars, will be ready for production by 2009. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed between the company and the Maharashtra government here today.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, and Industry Minister Ashok Chavan were present on the occasion.

The plant will be spread over 300 acres, and will generate direct and indirect employment for 3,000 people, said sources in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

Chevrolet Spark will have a 1,000-cc petrol engine. Till the new plant is ready, Spark will be rolled out from the Halol facility in Gujarat, beginning March.

The early introduction of the company’s small car in the market is being done keeping in mind the excise duty cut for small cars announced by the Union government in this year’s Budget.

GM will step up the production capacity at Halol to 85,000 units per annum by the end of the year. At present, the facility produces 50,000 units. The additional capacity of 35,000 units will be utilised for the small car.

Until recently, GM was eyeing the Surajpur plant of the now-defunct Korean car-maker, Daewoo India. However, prolonged negotiations with the company’s key lenders on the issue of taking over the liabilities of Daewoo in India did not fructify in favour of the American car major.

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Tatas prescribe $10 million for drug venture in city

Express News Service

Pune, August 3: The Tata Group that has a huge presence in Pune added another segment to its already existing line of auto and IT investments by setting up a drug discovery facility at Hinjewadi biotech park on Thursday. The facility of Advinus Therapeutics Private Ltd, a venture promoted by the Tata Group with former research head of Ranbaxy Rashmi Barbhaiya, will attract an investment of $5-10 million initially.

‘‘Looking ahead into the future, the group is committed to being in new high technology and knowledge-based industries and pharma is one such area,’’ Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said.


Advinus Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company catering to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Spread over an area of 20,000 sq ft, the discovery arm of Advinus will undertake novel drug discovery and generating IP primarily in the area of metabolic diseases and inflammation.

‘‘Backed by its strong team and infrastructure, we believe Advinus will partner global majors in creating value from their research efforts and improve the quality of life,’’ Tata said.

The Tatas first venture with a technocrat will be complemented by its IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). ‘‘This venture is uncommon and we believe that such a business model backed by the combined experience of Barbhaiya as chief executive officer and managing director and shareholder holds tremendous potential. TCS which is already in the bioinformatics and life sciences space will complement the pioneering efforts of Advinus,’’ Tata Sons executive director and Advinus chairman R Gopalakrishnan said.

Advinus, which also has a large operation in Bangalore with an 8-acre campus with over 180,000 sq ft of built up space, is eyeing opportunities in the companies based in the US and Europe who are looking at cost-effective, high quality solutions for their R&D programmes.

Barbhaiya, who said that after leaving Ranbaxy had the option of going back to the US, decided to stay on in the country because: ‘‘I had come to India with a mission and creation of Advinus Therapeutics offers an opportunity to leverage the India advantage to discover and develop novel drugs with speed and cost-effectiveness.’’

Advinus, which currently has 55 scientists in Pune, will have an estimated workforce of 550 employees by 2010 ‘‘comprising some of the best available talent pool from across the globe’’. Drug discovery at Advinus will focus on generating novel small molecule therapies for indications in three disease clusters: metabolic disorders, inflammatory diseases and neglected diseases of the developing world.

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Pune: In a major milestone for the manufacturing industry in Pune, Tata BlueScope Steel Limited, a Rs 1,200-crore joint venture of Tata Steel and Australian steel company BlueScope Steel, opened a 30-acre facility at Hinjewadi, Pune, on Monday.
The plant, which houses a design centre and a corporate office of the company, will manufacture pre-engineered building systems and solutions.
This facility is the first of the three planned by the company. The other two are under construction at Sriperumbudur near Chennai and Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. This is part of the Rs 1,300 crore investment that the company has made for the construction of the three facilities and a metallic coating and painting facility at Jamshedpur. The company intends to use this facility to cater to the growing construction industry in India and the Saarc region.
According to Chetan Tolia, MD Tata BlueScope Steel, the demand for steel is growing rapidly due to the boom in the automotive and appliances sectors, fuelled by high middle class consumption, and also to the heightened industrial construction activities across India.
Citing the example of the Pune facility, which itself is constructed using the technologies being manufactured, B. Muthuraman, MD Tata Steel said, “The time period of construction is greatly accelerated by the use of pre-engineered building components, compared to the traditional process.” TNN

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Pune makeover: Rs 65-crore Central funds to manage traffic

Express News Service

Pune, August 11: The march towards a bigger, better Pune gained pace after the Centre approved in principle the first phase of the Rs 1000-crore Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for the city that will improve the chaotic traffic situation. On Friday, the Centre okayed the first tranche of Rs 65 crore under the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for the pilot projects that will run from Swargate to Hadapsar and Swargate to Katraj.

The Centre has already sanctioned Rs 99 crore for the construction of five sewage treatment plants under the same scheme. The approval was a shot in the arm for the Pune Municipal Corporation that feared a thumbs down from the Centre since it had failed to comply with the tax reforms like raising the property tax. which was not accepted by the general body.



The civic body had mooted the BRTS as a solution to the city’s traffic problems and later this project was included in the JNNURM road network plan. The project comprises a 100-km bus network including a ring road and river side road.

The BRTS will have two continuous motor vehicles and dedicated bus lanes running in both the directions. A 3.3 m bus lane, two 6 to 7 m motor vehicle lanes with a footpath of 1.8 to 2.5 m will come up on both these roads.

The roads will also have cycle tracks. A separate service lane with a footpath, light poles and storm water drains will be provided. Bus shelters, 11 on Satara Road and 7 on Solapur Road, will also come up.

The PMC’s idea is to increase the use of public transport in the city and the BRTS is being viewed as the catalyst to this change.

Central team to visit Pune in September
Advisor to the Union Planning Commission APN Singh and a three-member expert team will visit Pune in early September to inspect the infrastructure for the Commonwealth Youth Games. The team will take decision on the Rs 492-crore infrastructural projects of the PMC and Rs 140 crore projects of PCMC along with Rs 192 crore-project for the Balewadi sports complex. These projects have been submitted by the State government to the Centre for final approval

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Now, you can buy ’em all in Pune
By Padmaja Shastri/TNN

Pune: French hypermarket Le Marche, part of the top international retail Group ‘Geant’ has signed a letter of intent (LoI) to take up 1.25 lakh sq ft space — all at a single level — in a shopping mall under construction at Kalyani Nagar.
Marks & Spencer, UK’s iconic retail chain, has taken space in another mall, to be inaugurated later this month. It is also setting up shop at another mall coming up on Ganeshkhind road, which will open in October-November.
With top international fashion brands like Giorgio Armani, Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger looking for space in Pune, according to market sources, shopaholics will encounter a great new experience.
A number of global retail chains, international apparel and fashion brands like UK’s Debenhams and Spanish fashion apparel brand Mango have either bought space in city malls or are planning to do so.
“We are negotiating for suitable space with a number of malls and high street shopping centres in Pune for all the brands we represent in India, except the premium Swiss brand Bali,” said a senior official of Fashions Brands Pvt Ltd. All these brands will be available in the city in the next six months, he added.
This Mumbai-based company is a franchisee for numerous international apparel, lingerie and footwear brands
including Mango, French clothing brand Promod and Canadian lingerie brand La Sen Za. The company also represents a host of footwear brands like Canada’s Aldo Shoes, Nine West of the US and Charles & Keith of Singapore.
Delhi-based Franco Leome Shoes is also bringing a number of international footwear brands into Pune.
In fact, many of these international brands are planning more than one store in the city. Italy’s sportswear brand Kappa and casual wear brand Bossini have signed up for space with two local shopping malls.
Most of these brands will be entering Pune after setting shop in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. While those already present in the city will be expanding their presence.
Market studies conducted by retailers revealed that Pune has approximately 75,000 people working in the IT and BPO sector. Most of these are under 30 years of age, earning fat salaries, have no dependants, hence have a ample to spend on fashion.
International brands are hurrying up to enter the city to take advantage of this growing base of high spending consumers, when retail rentals are relatively low. At present, rental rates for retail in Pune range from Rs 75 to Rs 200 per sq ft per month.
The global retail rush in the city is also driven by the fact that it is virtually raining shopping malls in Pune. Around 20 malls between 1 lakh sq ft and 7 lakh sq ft are coming up at key locations across the city and are expected to be operational over the next two years.