Sarafa Indore

By Yogesh Vaze

I have visited Indore on numerous occasions. And, every time I reach this erstwhile capital of the Holkars, I plan a visit to Sarafa Bazaar.

Are you wondering why I am writing about Sarafa Bazaar, a jewellery market, in a section that deals with restaurant reviews? Well, the reason is that, soon after the jewellery shops shut in the evening, this place becomes a chaat bazaar!

Food vendors converge on this location to set up eateries along the road every evening. The variety is superb: samosas, kachoris, pani puri, pav bhaji, chhole tikiyas, sabudana ki khichdi, maalpua and poha to name a few.

There are quite a few permanent restaurants too. Joshi Restaurant is very popular for bhutte
ka kees. The Bhutte Ka Kees, which made of grated corn garnished with coriander leaves and grated coconut, just melts in your mouth.

These guys also sell dahi vada, bhajiyas etc. And, yes, Mr Joshi will throw in some jugglery along with the food (you have to request for it though).

The famous khopra pattis (patties) can be sampled at Vijay Chaat House. The pattis, which are made of khopra (dry coconut) with a covering of potatoes, are fried right in front of you and served with khatti-meeti chatni.

You may have eaten aloo pattis elsewhere, but khobra pattis are a must when you are in Indore.
Vijay Chaat House also makes aloo mattar pattis. Pattis cost Rs 5 per piece only. You can also enjoy their samosas and kachoris.

Vijay Chaat House is a standing-only place, but I guess that is the best way to enjoy chaat.
You can round up the chaat session with sweets like maalpua and rabdi. Quite a few street vendors sell these desserts. Rasgullas from Brajwasi are very popular as well.
Shikanji at Nagori Sweets is another dessert I would recommend. It is made of fruit juices and condensed milk.

Jain Mithai Bhandar sells delicious moong ka halwa. This is not for the calorie conscious though.
All of the above dishes together will cost you less than Rs 100 per person.
Getting there

Since this is a street I am writing about, I couldn't come up with an exact address. Sarafa is on the west side of Indore. It is a five minute walk from Rajwada, which is one the most famous landmarks in Indore.

This is a crowded area, so parking space is negligible. You may have to park at Rajwada and walk to Sarafa.

From the railway station, you will have to travel about seven kilometres. You can catch a city bus/ autorikshaw from the station to Rajwada and then walk to Sarafa.
There are a lot more places like Chappan Dukan, where you can enjoy chaat in Indore, but Sarafa is, by far, the most popular.

from - http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/jun/13rest.htm

Fire Capital Fund Mauritius Pvt Ltd, a global venture capital fund, plans to invest up to $250 million to develop integrated townships in 10 cities.

By the year-end, the firm would also raise a $500 million fund to be dedicated to real estate and components of infrastructure, a senior company official said on Monday.

The fund made its first investment in Indore-based M Jhaveri Group in the 137-acre upcoming township Silver Springs being developed by it. This also marks the first foreign direct investment (FDI) in real estate in Madhya Pradesh.

"Silver Springs is our first deployment in India with a size of $5 million. We have also invested in the range of $10 million each for townships in Chennai and primarily Tier II cities like Bangalore, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur and Dehradun," Fire Capital Managing Director Om Chaudhary said here.

The fund has a corpus of $120 million and with co-investors it can go up to $250 million, he added.

It is expected to deploy the complete $250 million by December, when it starts raising a fund of about $500 million, Chaudhary said.

On the opportunity in Tier II cities, Chaudhary said, there was a rising demand for quality infrastructure as disposable income is on the rise.

These cities are expected to capture 30-50 per cent housing demand where there is a gap of about 23 million units, he added.

MAN n MAAN!!!

Proposals of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for IT and ITeS, including those by Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology, will dominate the next meeting on August 30 of the Board of Approval, which will take up 31 applications in all.

Most of the new proposals for SEZs in IT and ITeS will come up in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, the SEZ promoters are taking IT and ITeS beyond the hubs of Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

According to information available with the Commerce Ministry, the new economy of information technology is spreading to the hinterland of Chittor districts of Andhra Pradesh. Likewise, Panipat and Sonepat in Haryana are trying to catch up with Gurgaon.

Anant Raj Industries proposes to build a 10-hectare IT zone in Sonepat near Delhi, while Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation would set up a 32.57-hectare IT SEZ in Chittor.

Mittal Infratech is setting up an IT zone in Panipat, otherwise known for its textile industries.

Pune and Mohali, where IT and ITeS have already established its presence, are also on the radar of the new SEZ investors. Indore, which has witnessed growth in the automobile industries, is attracting investments from IT and ITeS companies as well. Established auto player MAN Industries is setting up a 118.6 IT SEZ in Indore.

Tata Consultancy Services proposes to set up a 30.35- hectare IT zone in R R District of Andhra Pradesh, where Cognizant Technology Solutions also has plans to establish a 16-hectare IT zone.

The government has so far given 366 formal approvals and 178 in-principle nods

Indore to get 8000 Crore by DLF alone, must be Joking

Real estate major DLF, which has renewed plans to tap the capital market with a mega IPO, is contemplating investing up to Rs 12,000 crore to develop various projects in Madhya Pradesh.

DLF has submitted a bid to the state government for developing an industrial SEZ, which would incorporate plastic, chemical, automotive and IT companies, spread over 2,500 acre near Indore. The company also plans to develop a huge township close to the SEZ to house people working in the zone.

"We are planning to invest up to Rs 8,000 crore in the SEZ and township near Indore," company sources told PTI.

The company is quite confident that the government would award the contract to it for developing the SEZ.

DLF would go ahead with the township project irrespective of the outcome of the SEZ bid, as it possesses adequate land for the same, sources said.

Besides, the company plans to invest further up to Rs 3,000 crore in Bhopal to develop four projects that includes a small township covering 30 acre, hotel, a residential project and a shopping mall.

DLF would also develop luxury apartments and villas at Indore spread over 250 acre at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

The company is looking at pumping in huge investments in other parts of Madhya Pradesh too, including Gwalior and Jabalpur.

From
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/234505.cms

MP investment destination ??

Seeking to project the state as an investment destination, the Madhya Pradesh government will hold a two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM) on October 26-27. The state government is expecting commitment of multi-billion dollar investments in the GIM in Indore in power, IT, health, tourism, roads and high technology areas. There has already been a commitment by industrial houses to invest over Rs one lakh crore in the years to come in various sectors, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters at Indore on Monday. The Chief Minister is also expected to announce some lucrative benefits to investors to attract them to the state. Chouhan said, "Madhya Pradesh is being projected in a right manner among the global investors who have taken keen interest in making investments in the state." The state has replaced the `single-window' concept with the `single-table' system to give speedy clearances to investment proposals, he said. Global steel tycoon LN Mittal, Lord Swaraj Paul (Caparo Group), Ambanis, Kumarmangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia and Adi Godrej among others would be invited for the event, sources in the MP State Industrial Development Corporation said. The chief minister is visiting the US, the UK and various parts in the country to invite the industrialists. He will have a detailed discussions with the IT industry leaders to promote the state as the next 'IT destination' after Bangalore and Hyderabad. It may be recalled here that India's first operational SEZ in Indore has not only attracted industries but has also triggered a race for creation of more SEZs.

Indore - Will IT happen

Small cities emerging as new IT hubs

Metros are the nerve centres of India. Wide roads, tall buildings, 24x7 power and water supplies, great lifestyle — few can resist the trappings of a big city like Mumbai or Bangalore. They attract MNCs and labourers alike. But not everybody is being lured by the city lights. In fact, a lot of companies, now prefer to script their growth stories from tier II-III cities. The slow-paced life in Indore or Kochi attracts them more. What’s more, many such start-ups have also managed to make a splash globally. Now they are big names. Apart from IT companies which are branching out to smaller cities, there are those which set up first base there and then spread their wings. Impetus Technologies , for example, was founded in 1991 in Indore which remains the base of their India operations. The IT engineering company’s CEO Praveen Kankariya explains: ‘‘ I hail from the city. Though I have offices in six cities across the world, Indore is still my biggest facility with four development centres and 650 plus engineers.’’ Kankariaya , who lives in Silicon Valley, plans to develop a stateof-the-art campus in his hometown. Thiruvanathapuram-based IBS Software Services has a similar story. The company, launched in Technopark campus in 1997, is an MNC today, with 11 centres around the world. ‘‘ The cost-effectiveness , availability of a large pool of qualified people in the state and high quality of life in one of the most beautiful states in India were very encouraging for us to start our business here,’’ says Anthony Joseph, senior VP and global HR head. The company has development centres in London, Washington, Kochi and Thiruvanathapuram . Similarly, global IT giant CSC has an Indore base. ‘‘ There were several advantages in being there — a cooperative state government, availability of resources and the willingness of senior and middle management to relocate,’’ says Padmaja Krishnan, director , marketing, planning and research. Other top IT companies too are exploring opportunities in tier II-III cities. Zensar Technologies in Hyderabad and Persistent Systems in Pune are just two of them. Nasscom data shows software exports from tier II and III cities have grown dramatically from a mere 5% a couple years ago to 15-18 % now. It’s expected to go up to 25-30 % by 2010. What’s more, these new hotspots are expected to employ 30% of the projected strength of 850,000 IT professionals and 1.4 million ITeS professionals by 2010. An Ernst & Young study reveals that the demand for office space in tier II-III cities is expected to expand significantly in the next few years. This is primarily driven by the IT and ITeS industry that requires an estimated office space of more than 367 million sq ft by 2010-2013 . So what’s making these cities tick? TALENT POOL CSC was attracted by the educational institutions — both management and technical — in Indore. This helped them recruit the best talent in the region. For Zensar Technologies, Pune — also known as the ‘Oxford of the East’ — is a fertile ground for recruitment. ‘‘ It gives us constant supply of skills for the organisation ,’’ says MD Ganesh Natarajan. The company plans to make Pune the cradle for its innovations. Experts say the development in these cities is largely based on scalable infrastructure and availability of skilled manpower . Cities like Pune, Nashik, Coimbatore etc are home to good institutions which produce thousands of graduates and engineers required by organisations. COST BENEFITS Real estate prices in tier II and III cities are lower than in tier I cities. Their development policies are conducive for real estate development. As Avinash Vashistha, chairman , Tholons Inc, explains, ‘‘ These cities offer substantial cost advantages. Fully loaded costs are as much as 30% cheaper compared to cities like Bangalore or Mumbai; real estate costs are at least 20% cheaper.’’ GREATER STABILITY The other thing going for smaller cities is the HR gains. As Krishnan explains, ‘‘ They offer better work-life balance , shorter commuting time, stronger bonding and lower cost of living. With the urban infrastructure and manpower resources under great strain, these cities become a good choice. Moving to non-metros also brings diversity to an organisation. In fact, these cities serve as a good backup site for the business continuity.’’ More importantly, when location and work content align with personal and professional aspirations of employees , there is little scope for attrition — a huge lure for IT companies. But there are some teething troubles in smaller cities. Infrastructure and transportation can be a major problem . Besides flight and train connectivity, availability of hotels leaves a lot to be desired in some cases. Kankariya says, ‘‘ Though the educational institutes may be impressive, there is a need to streamline the courses and make them more corporate-focused . Grooming and finishing schools can also add a lot of value to the graduates here.’’ Besides, they need to catch up with recreation facilities for the young IT crowd. Vashistha says, ‘‘ Tier II-III cities can become IT-ITeS hubs if the trend of small city dwellers migrating to bigger towns or metros is reversed. A city’s business potential lies in how the new IT-ITeS entrants can successfully develop the local market and make migration unattractive. Also, it should make people move from bigger cities to enjoy a better, balanced and more relaxed life, without compromising on work or entertainment opportunities.’’ However, things are changing and a lot of clients are becoming comfortable with tier II cities. Vashistha is optimistic 5% of the business will move to tier II/III cities in the next two-three years.

From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2373891,prtpage-1.cms

The solution for the public transport problems of India’s big cities is now running on the roads of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Indore has become the first city in the country to put in place a fleet of 53 modern low-floor buses equipped with GPS and computerised ticket-vending machines. In two days, the bus stops will have electronic sign boards to show the status of the buses.

The new Tata Starbuses have the same tariff of Rs 3- 12 as that ot the old Nagar Sewa mini buses that pack people like sardines. The perpetual story of public transport losses seems to be over. Since February this year, when the buses started running, the municipal corporation has made Rs 1 crore profit.

The city is celebrating the new transport system run on private-public partnership.”There was just the Nagar Sewa until some months back. Rude staff and overcrowded buses made going out a nightmare. I always ended up taking an auto or just driving down myself. But look at these buses. The conductors and drivers are so well-behaved, there is separate seating and exit for women, the bus comes on time and has so much leg room,’’ says Ramneek Kaur, a housewife.

The man behind the move, Vivek Aggarwal, District Collector and Executive Director of Indore City Transport Services Limited (ICTSL), says: “Indore’s transport system was in complete chaos in June 2005 when I took over as collector. There were no bus stops, no fixed bus routes, Nagar Sewa buses just stopped anywhere they felt like. Having spent some time in Europe I was fascinated by their bus system. We identified 350 bus stops in the city before surveying all routes.’’

Aggarwal chose the joint-venture route. No one believed it would work, says Aggarwal. “But once our first few buses rolled out in February this year and elicited such great public response, there was no looking back.”

The buses are colour-coded according to routes, the staff are trained in etiquette by a management agency, the buses run from 7 am to 11 pm and are out the next day washed, cleaned and air-dried from the yard after ICTSL staff checks them everyday.

The collector says Indore will have 96 such buses by the end of the year and a fleet of 500 in five years. With another Rs 98 crore coming to Indore under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, the city plans to start construction of designated bus lanes for a complete Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) with the help of IIT Delhi.

The national Capital, Delhi, has been discussing the scheme for four years and just about managed to sneak in six buses last November. And it took Indore just nine months to put the scheme on tracks.

There will soon be more lessons for big cities from Aggawal’s Indore. Next in line is a dial-a-cab service to replace the 15-year-old tempos on the Indore roads. While Nagar Sewas have not yet been phased out, Aggarwal hopes the market will force them out.

The word is spreading fast. Indore is now being consulted by Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur, Rourkela and Raipur. Soon a World Bank team will be here to study the scheme.

By Anubhuti Vishnoi
Posted online: Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST at http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/12869.html

Indore Airport

From : Chronicle News Service

Indore, Aug 7: All 35 major airports of the country will be equipped with ultra-modern facilities by 2010, while 24 airports of the western zone will be equipped with state of art amenities by 2009. This was informed by Dr K Ramlingam, chairman, Airport Authority of India after conclusion of the review meeting of the airport directors of the western region here on Sunday.

Talking about Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar airport, Indore, he said no effort will be left unturned to develop Indore airport. It would soon be developed into an international airport with an international cargo facilities for the entrepreneurs and businessmen of the city, Ramlingamn said.

In the meeting, works being done by all 24 airports in the western zone were reviewed and discussions were held on the next course of action to be undertaken by the airport authorities of the western zone. Indore airport director, R K Singh informed that in the meeting a thorough discussion was also held on the all-round development of Indore airport and a workplan to this effect was tabled before the AAI chairman.

Singh drew attention of the AAI chairman towards scarcity of security and technical staff at Indore airport, keeping in view the expected increase in flight operation and expansion of cargo facilities. Singh demanded 30 more security crews for Indore airport and the AAI chairman agreed to fulfill his demand by the end of October this year.

The AAI chairman also gave his nod for infrastructure development at Indore airport which includes construction of a new international terminal building, six more bays, expansion of cargo facilities, ultra-modern new aprons, expansion of runway up to 9000 sq ft among others. These works will be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore, Singh informed.

From : Chronicle News Service

IIM Indore

INDORE: Handsome pay packets in the range of Rs 50 lakhs (international offer) and Rs 18 lakhs (domestic offer) per annum were offered to the passing out batch of the country's youngest Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore during placements.

"A total of 329 offers were made to 115 students of the eighth batch, which included 12 international offers and an average salary of Rs 12 lakhs per annum - an increase of 45 per cent over last year," IIM Director S P Parashar told reporters.

However, the Director did not disclose the name of the company and the highest salary offered by it to the student to avoid any untoward situation as decided by the directors of all the IIM's.

He said 67 companies participated in the placement process and among which 29 took part for the first time. On an average 2.8 jobs were offered per student during the placement.

"The most satisfying aspect of the placement process was that 25 per cent of the batch has been placed in consulting firms of international repute," Parashar said.

In the IT sector, besides Oracle, Capgemini, Headstrong, Cognizant, IBM, Tech Mahindra and Covansys - Infosys also came back to the campus with an international offer of US Dollar 110,000 per annum, he added.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Parsvnaths_Indore_SEZ_notified_to_invest_Rs_1400_cr/rssarticleshow/2256760.cms

Parsvnath's 1400Cr

NEW DELHI: Realty major Parsvnath Developers Ltd's plan to set up special economic zones are ready to take off with the government notifying its 76-acre IT and ITes SEZ in Indore entailing an investment of Rs 1,400 crore.

"We have received the notification for Indore SUEZ and work will start after complying with pending formalities in next 30-60 days," Parsvnath Chairman Pradeep Jain told media.

Jain said this was the company's first SEZ, which has been notified by the Centre. The development process would be completed within 36 months after construction begins.

SEZs would start contributing to the company's topline from next fiscal, he added. Parsvnath has formed a subsidiary, Parsvnath SEZ Ltd, for developing such projects. The investments would be funded through internal accruals and debt, Jain said.

Besides the Indore SEZ, the company has formal approvals for four more SEZs at Gurgaon, Dehradun, Kochi and Hyderabad and the notification was expected soon.

Parsvnath plans to invest Rs 5,200 crore in the next five years to construct these five SEZs for biotech and information technology sectors. A 25-acre SEZ in Hyderabad would be for bio-tech and bio-pharma sectors, while the remaining four would be IT and ITeS zones.

Jain said the company plans to develop 16 SEZs across the country. It has received in-principle approval for seven more SEZs, while four proposals are pending.

Parsvnath is undertaking land acquisition for seven SEZs, which would add an aggregate saleable area of 170 million sq ft. It presently has a land bank of 160 million sq ft and the construction is underway on 74 million sq ft.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Parsvnaths_Indore_SEZ_notified_to_invest_Rs_1400_cr/rssarticleshow/2256760.cms

Sad, but true

Bureaucratic hurdles, non-transparency in dealings and corruption have marred the privatisation process of Crystal IT Park in Indore. Even six months after awarding special economic zone status to the IT park, the MP government is yet to decide on the privatisation of the multi-storeyed building.

No software company has come forward to take a square foot of the park, even after one year of the completion of the building. The 550,000 square foot building bears a deserted look since its completion.

Reportedly, the state government is likely to face a legal battle for the building over its payment on construction. “We have submitted a proposal to the state government to seek permission to float tenders for attracting investment from IT companies,” Vivek Agrawal, managing director, Indore Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam, told Business Standard.

Built with an investment of Rs 44 crore at prime locality of Bhanwarkuan near Indore University, even local IT companies have shown no interest in the park. Earlier, the state government had decided to rope in private players to market it.

Last year, the AKVN, nodal agency to put the IT Park onto market, had made efforts to join hands with Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Wipro, SKIL, and Infosys. “We are looking for a private player to finish the common area of the park,” Agrawal added.

An industry source who is closely monitoring the construction of the building informed that valuation of the building and a land area in the vicinity, which is nearly 23 acre, holds the key.

“It is under valued at Rs 60 crore. While the total cost of the IT park should be around Rs 150 crore. There were reports that the original design of the building of two stories at basement and eight stories above it has been altered to one (basement) plus nine thereby incurring additional expenses to the state,” the source said.

With poor road, power and air-connectivity, the state offers no potential to software development. However, industry department and information technology department are more interested in lucrative business of infrastructure creation.

Recently, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited Bangalore to woo investors under banner of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) came back home bare handed.

“Not even 12 people from top IT companies attended him,” an industry source who was the part of delegation told Business Standard.

In name of IT park proposals, one at Bairagarh and the other at Anand Nagar locality, the state revenue department has raised land prices, giving a direct benefit to realtors.

The proposed IT park at Anand Nagar has failed to come up, while another park to be developed near Bairagarh airport, Bhopal, on 210 acre has yet to come out of drawing board.

http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=297427&subLeft=1&leftnm=3

Electrification of Indore-Ujjain route

Chronicle News Service

New Delhi, March 3: The railway ministry has identified the routes which are to be electrified. In these routes ,Indore-Ujjain , Dewas-Maksi and Bina-Kota railway routes are included of MP.

State Railway minister R Balu gave this information here on the other day. In a written letter the state railway minister informed that between Indore-Ujjain and Dewas-Maksi under western railway ,electrification of the route to be completed about 115km. He said that at around 641 routes have been identified which are to be electrified. According to Belu it would cost nearly Rs1850 crore for completing the project.

From:
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060304/0403102.htm

Indore set to be a real estate hotspot

The technology sector is fuelling the real estate market in the city of Indore.

IT and ITes in Indore is still at a nascent stage but it seems anticipation of a boom in the sectors is already pushing real estate development in this city. Indore is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh and its largest town too.

It has traditionally been a hub for the automobile, alloy steel industry and textiles. Pass through the Pitampur industrial hub and you can spot major companies like Hindustan Motors, Eicher Motors, Bajaj, Nicholas Piramal, Bridgestone, Larsen & Toubro among others. Indore is also a hub for soyabean cultivation and processing.
For smaller towns of Madhya Pradesh and other parts of central India, Indore is the place to be, for education and for work. More employment opportunity are in the offing with the government declaring a budget of Rs 5,000 crore for building Asia’s largest auto testing track at Pitampur for ground breaking research and development.

The Madhya Pradesh government has earmarked 2,000 acres of land for an IT SEZ near the proposed international airport. The airport itself will be a catalyst for future real estate development in neighbouring locations.

A noteworthy development is the Crystal IT Park on 24 acres of land at Khandwa Road. Prospective growth of the IT sector has fuelled the growth of residential real estate in the city. Indore is on the radar of a number of IT companies.

According to the Knight Frank Report on Emerging Growth Centres, developers like K Raheja and Unitech have already been allotted land in the proposed IT SEZ.

Indore has a large population of enterpreneurs with high purchasing power. The city has a number of strongly entrenched local brands along with national and international retailers. Traditional unorganised markets are slowly giving way to new organised retail markets with the arrival of new malls and shopping centres.

The major retail growth can be seen in the central part of the city close to the high-end residential locations of Palasia, Race Course, Saket and Gulmohar and also in upcoming locations like Vijaynagar and MR 10.

Not surprisingly then, a Tramell Crow Meghraj study reveals that a number of domestic and international real estate funds are expected to or are investing in Indore.

Needed: more homes
Recent years have seen a growth in demand for apartments, partly because of rising aspirations of the populace and also due to a 47 per cent increase in population in a decade. According to an estimate, there is a demand for at least 1,00,000 units a year in Indore to accommodate the constantly floating population.

Land prices have behaved in an extraordinary way, confirms Joy Sanyal, vice-president, strategic development initiative, Trammell Crow Meghraj.

“The prices have soared 300 times in some cases. In a recent transaction, Kalpataru from Mumbai picked up 3.12 acres of NTC land for a whopping Rs 90 crore,” he says. On average, the land cost in Indore is between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore an acre, depending on the location.

Shalimar Township (23 acres) along the bypass was the first township concept successfully implemented in Indore by the Mirchandani Group. Today, according to an estimate, there are about 18-20 integrated townships in the pipeline.

Entertainment World Developers Private Limited (EWDPL) are doing two projects with Eredene Capital of Mauritius. EWDPL is doing a Rs 350 crore Market City on 19.5 acres of land near the junction of Indore bypass and major route 10 (MR 10), which will entail a 1 million sq ft mall, a five-star hotel, 4.4 lakh sq ft of office space and a total of 8 lakh sq ft of residential development over 7 towers. These towers could be over 20 floors. Their other township will be at Bijalpur, off the main Agra-Bombay National Highway on a total of 100 acres.

Omaxe City spread over 89 acres, will be at Mayakhari on NH-3, Agra-Bombay bypass and will house duplex villas, ground + 2 independent floors along with a swimming pool, sauna, steam, jacuzzi, shopping complex, food court and a banquet hall. Omaxe had earlier launched a township in Indore.

Vineet Nanda, GM, sales and marketing at Omaxe, informed that 85 per cent of the project was sold out within a year of launching. Three bedroom villas here cost somewhere around Rs 22 lakh. The average rate of apartments in the city is between 1,200-1,500 per sq ft.

Sahara India Infrastructure and Housing has planned Sahara City Homes on the bypass at Bicholi Mardana on 89 acres of land. Suncity is also doing a township spread over 150 acres on the Agra-Bombay bypass. It will include a commercial centre, a star hotel and a shopping complex.

A lot of land in Indore has already been bought by major national players like DLF, Rahejas, Ansal, Parsvnath. Each of these, says a local source, has over 100 acres in and around the city.

Small town retail frenzy
On the retail front, Indore already has a number of national and international brands. EWDPL’s Treasure Island (0.6 million sq ft), located on MG Road, was the first organised retail format in the city. According to Knight Frank, the retail industry has great prospects in the city.

Mumbai-based K Raheja developers are coming up with a hypermarket on 11 acres of land around the bypass. Besides this, there is news that a number of national-level multiplex operators have also announced their entry.

Existing retail space in Indore totals to about 0.86 million sq ft. Knight Frank indicates that around 1 million sq ft of new retail space is expected to enter the market in the next few months. About 4-5 malls are in the pipeline and it is expected that by 2009 approximately 3 million sq ft of retail space will be operational in the city.

A recent Sun Microsystems press release reads “Sun Microsystems India announced the launch of its operations in Indore. Sun will commence operations in the city through its partner, Wipro Infotech.” Sun-rise for the IT and IT services sector in Indore? Maybe.


http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/24spec1.htm

News on Indore

INDORE: In the city's biggest land deal, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group has outbid realty firms DLF and BPTP to bag a commercial plot for Rs 270 crore to build a hyper-mall at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore.

Reliance Retail plans to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore to develop a hyper-mall on this over 37,000 square metre plot in Vijaynagar area of the city, according to sources.

Indore Development Authority (IDA) Chairman Madhukar Verma told PTI that technical bids of Reliance, DLF and BPTP were found qualified. Yesterday, was the last date for submitting the bids.

He said price bids of the three companies were opened today, in which Reliance emerged as winner with highest price of Rs 270 crore. Delhi-based realty firms BPTP and DLF offered Rs 157.2 crore and Rs 150 crore respectively, Verma added.

In August, IDA had called for technical and commercial bids for allotment of two adjoining plots measuring 37,090 square meters (about four lakh square feet) for nominal lease having a reserve price of Rs 111.27 crore at a cost of Rs 30,000 per sq meter.

Verma said the IDA Board would meet in next 10 days to give a formal approval of the deal.

From
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Personal_Finance/Property/Reliance_outbids_BPTP_DLF_to_bag_Rs_270_cr_plot_in_Indore/articleshow/2391537.cms