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Sudha Menon

Pune , Dec. 8

MOVE over Bangalore, Hyderabad. Pune city could soon be the most sought after destination for information technology majors and other IT-enabled service providers, thanks to the State Government's ITES policy, which offers considerable sops to realty projects that will attract these players to Maharashtra.

In Pune, the effect of the July 12 announcement is already showing with at least one major realty developer of premium housing projects, Panchshil Realty, announcing its foray into the new `built-to-suit' properties for the IT sector, with a 2 million sq.ft. of proposed property dedicated to the industry.

Panchshil, has already signed its first customer, the US-based Insurance major, AXA, which is scouting for place to locate its back-end offices in India. "The company has signed up with us for a 10,000-sq.ft. built-to-suit property to house 1,400 people,'' Mr Girish Khare, its Executive Director, said. The project, located in the Bund Garden Road locality, which is developing as a hub for ITES, will be operational by June 2004.

Meanwhile, the Maharatta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA), an organisation floated by the city's corporate majors is in the process of setting up the International Convention Centre, a project, which is being positioned as South Asia's largest composite trade and convention centre.

The estimated Rs 150-crore project will have a trade tower with 400,000 sq ft developed space, two dedicated IT towers comprising 300,000 sq ft customised space for ITES and a convention centre with a capacity to hold 3,000 people. On the anvil is a 50,000 sq ft permanent exhibition centre for international conferences. The concept, incidentally, was the dream of the late S.L. Kirloskar, doyen of Maharashtra's industry and the founder of the Kirloskar group of industries. Also, part of the convention centre will be a 200-room five-star hotel, apartment suites and a 40,000 sq ft shopping mall.

While two of the buildings are expected to be complete by December 2004, the entire project is scheduled to be complete within two years. Interestingly, the MCCIA has roped in ICC Realty India Pvt Ltd, (ICCRI) a company floated by Panchshil and other investors, to manage and sell the property to interested parties. "We expect to be completely booked much before completion of the project,'' Mr Khare, who is also ED, ICCRI, said.

Panchshil, meanwhile, has also announced five other BTS properties across various locations in Pune with prices ranging from Rs 13 sq ft to Rs 42 sq ft. The company is offering lease rental options to its prospective customers, mainly large overseas ITES players, with a view to helping them take advantage of the sops being offered by the Government. The sops include a 75 per cent rebate on stamp duty and uninterrupted power at industrial rates, which is almost 25 percent cheaper than commercial rates.

Pune has recorded a phenomenal growth in the ITES sector in the last couple of years with growth in 2003 touching over 50 per cent while the growth in the rest of India stayed stagnant at around 35 per cent.

Industry players are now exulting in the fact that the city is now at the number one position in terms of growth percentage, a distinct change from year 2000 when it was at the bottom of the pile according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies' figures.

With IT majors like Infosys, Wipro, Kanbay and Zensar betting their money on the city and many BPO companies making a bee line for it, Pune city seems to have an edge over other cities.

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