The Hindu Business Line : Modern face of historical city

Modern Aurangabad is looking to leverage its geographically strategic location. Major industrial players, be it in the segments of pharma, information technology or automobiles, are looking to set up shop here.

But till 1960, Aurangabad languished as a city, remaining an industrial backwater.

In 1960, it was merged with the State of Maharashtra. This was the time when the industrial development of the Marathwada region began, propelled through designated backward area benefits. And it was only when the MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) began acquiring land and setting up industrial estates that it began to grow.

The city is home to some of the best known brands. There is Videocon, Garware, Skoda Auto, Wockhardt, Ajanta Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Lupin, Goodyear and Bajaj Auto, to name a few.

Many players have their manufacturing bases in Aurangabad, in the sectors of automotives and auto components, pharmaceuticals and breweries, consumer durables, plastic processing, aluminium processing, agriculture and biotech. The latest entrant is information technology.

According to a Nasscom-AT Kerney Research Report on the top 50 emerging IT and BPO destinations in the country, Aurangabad has found a place in the list.

Aurangabad currently has about 16 tech companies, which fall under the category of products and services and is also a destination for ITES (IT-enabled services). Exports by these companies, over the past three years, touched Rs 10 crore.

According to Ashish Garde, Secretary of the Chamber for Marathwada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA), four major IT private parks are being set up to cater to the infotech segment. This is besides the STPI (Software Technology Park of India). The STPI has set up an incubation centre where companies could start their operations immediately.

Garde says two private parks with total space of 20 lakh sq.ft. are in the process of being set up. These would provide the necessary infrastructure and are expected to begin construction soon. They are expected to be fully functional within a span of eight months and are being set up by Ajanta Infrastructure and Maharashtra Engineering Pvt Ltd.

Vinod Surana, Chairman and Managing Director, Ajanta Infrastructure, says private IT parks are in the process of being established. There is no private IT park in operation at the moment.

He says a number of companies have shown interest in setting up units in Aurangabad. Ajanta is planning to develop an IT special economic zone (SEZ) and also an IT park in an area of about 50 acres. “There are two other groups that are also planning IT SEZ/Park, but they will be comparatively smaller,” he says.

“After the IT Business Leader Summit 2008, we expect the top IT players in the field to look at Aurangabad as one of the most cost-effective IT destinations,” he says.

Companies that have shown interest in Aurangabad include Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, IBM, Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Patni Computers, Syntel, Mahindra & Mahindra – FES, L&T Infotech, Persistent Systems Pvt Ltd, I-Flex Solutions, Disha Technologies, Honeywell, Tata Infotech and Mahindra British Telecom.

Garde says one more IT park is being developed in the co-operative sector. This will come under the SEZ and is en route Paithan, around 60 km from Aurangabad. It will come up on about 30 acres of land.

Five SEZs have been approved and these are, in Automobile (Bajaj), in pharmaceuticals (Wockhardt), one in aluminium (where Hindalco has already commenced construction) and yet another is the Videocon SEZ.

A 70:30 joint venture between the AV Birla group and the US-based Almex Aerospace Ltd at Shendra is expected to be an aluminium processing SEZ. The total investment that has come into the SEZ is around Rs 1,500 crore.

Airport upgrade

Aurangabad is being seen as one of the top 50 destinations with connectivity, an important criterion in setting up shop in the city.

The airport is being upgraded to international standards. It currently handles direct flights to Mumbai, Delhi and Udaipur and is amongst the 20 short-listed airports for the modernisation programme, by the Civil Aviation Ministry. It is also connected to 12 important cities in the country, through overnight travel.

Garde says trained manpower, a key requirement of industry, is available. Aurangabad is a major hub for education in various fields, including engineering, management, medical and law. “Students passing out from these various streams are recruited by the ‘who’s who’ in the industry. We see many top companies in the country coming for campus recruitment,” he says.

Another advantage is that plenty of land is available and real-estate prices are more affordable as compared to other locations.

e-initiatives

Amongst the e-initiatives that the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation has taken up is the digitising of records, making them available on the Internet.

To speed up clearance for construction, the AMC has facilitated use of its software by architects, who can now check their plans against the Corporation norms, reducing the time taken by way of manual submission, checking, redrawing, etc.

“The intention is to make Aurangabad the most livable city in the country.”

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