The Mahindra group has decided to intensify its focus on special economic zones (SEZs) and real estate to take advantage of the improved sentiments witnessed in the sector across the country. The group is going ahead with its planned SEZ in Rajasthan, besides increasing focus on residential developments and integrated mega cities in southern and western India. Mahindra Lifespace Developers, which leads the group’s foray in this business, recently achieved a milestone of almost 5.8 million sq ft, comprising business cities and green homes spread over 2,000 acres. “At Mahindra World City New Chennai, the industrial area has been completely leased out. We are now looking to acquire land for the next phase here,” said Arun Nanda, president of infrastructure development, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&).

The industrial area of the Mahindra World city comprises an infotech/IT enabled services special economic zone (SEZ), an automobile SEZ and apparel SEZ, in addition to an earmarked domestic tariff area. Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation holds 11 per cent stake in Mahindra World City Developers, Chennai, while the balance is split between M&M and Mahindra Lifespace Developers. “At Mahindra World City, there are enough local businesses, which can support additional dedicated housing. So we are launching a residential project there,” said Nanda. The residential development aggregating 1.5 million sq ft, spread over 55 acres, is being developed as a joint venture (JV) with Arch Capital — an affiliate of the Philippines-based Ayala group. While the Philippines conglomerate holds 49 per cent in Mahindra Residential Developers, Mahindra Integrated Township holds the balance. The project is expected to be completed in three years. About 300 acres, including the 55 acres being developed as a JV, has been earmarked for residential development in the World City at Chennai. “Building on our success in Tamil Nadu, we are now scouting for land around Chennai to build a second World City. We are, at present, aggregating land parcels there,” Nanda said. FC Estate learns that this land is being acquired at a location that’s around 35 km from Chennai city. “We plan to build an integrated city spred over 1,500 acres in Chennai,” Nanda added.

Mahindras, which were one of the early entrants in the SEZ space, are also seeing a revival of customer interest in their planned SEZ in Jaipur. “The first phase acreage has already been completely leased out here and we see an increase in regular enquiries,” said Nanda. Of the SEZ area, 452 acres have been committed and several units are already in operation. According to information made available by M&M, the IT, ITeS SEZ there has attracted seven tenants, while the Evolve Tech Park, which has Deutsche Bank as the anchor tenant, is already operational. In the industrial area, the light engineering SEZ has seen eight companies sign up while the handicrafts SEZ has acquired 11 tenants. Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation (Riico) holds 26 per cent of Mahindra World City Jaipur that is developing this project. In aggregate, Mahindras have around 5.92 million sq ft of space, which will be developed in the residential category spread across cities such as Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. The company is also exploring the feasibility of setting up a World City in Maharashtra. Pre-feasibility and demand surveys for the 3,000-acre development at Kurla near Pune in western Maharashtra have been completed, said a top M&M officials. The company plans to develop this project in collaboration with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The latter is expected to hold 11 per cent in the proposed World City. On a much smaller scale, the group is also building a 52-acre research & development-focused biotech SEZ at Thane, around 16 km from Mumbai.

SOURCE: India Realty News