Pune to lead in IT/ITeS Commercial Space

March 18, 2008	(Be the first to rate this story!)  Loading ...
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Pune’s skyline is set for a big change, thanks to the commercial space being developed for the IT/ITeS sector. By 2010 an estimated 100 million sq ft of IT/ ITeS specific commercial space is expected to come up in seven cities through Special Economic Zones alone in India. Pune leads this list with 23 per cent of this amount -that is about 23 million sq ft which is almost one-fourth of the total space thus created.

While Hyderabad has maximum area to its credit on the basis of supply potential, Pune ups it on sheer ground implementation, according to the report titled ‘SEZs in India: Here comes the sun’ put together by DTZ, a global real estate adviser. In this estimated supply of office space Pune is followed by Delhi NCR with 18 million sq ft, Hyderabad and Chennai with 15 million sq ft each, Bangalore at 13 million sq ft, Kolkata with 10 million sq ft and Mumbai at seven million sq ft. Even if the entire 100 million sq ft does not come up due to any delays, the report puts at least 60-70 million sq ft as achievable target by 2010 in the country.

It further says that during 2006-07, 10 IT/ITeS projects were notified in Pune, while nine were given formal approval, accounting for 80 per cent of the upcoming SEZs in the region. In terms of size this translates into 40.8 million sq ft of notified land area under development in addition to 15.3 million sq ft which has been formally approved.

In addition, seven projects have been approved in principle primarily comprising multi-product / multi-service SEZs, while eight SEZ projects were launched during the year.

Purshottam Jadhav, regional officer MIDC, concurred with the findings. “Seventy per cent of the SEZ projects in Maharashtra are located in Pune. So it would be correct to believe that the city is leading in terms of SEZ space,” he said.

Satish Magar, MD Magarpatta City SEZ, that has a proposed 2.5 million sq ft built-up space, said Pune’s educational base, climate and proximity to Mumbai make it the most attractive city for such investments. “The upcoming SEZs will lead to creation of more jobs and propel Pune into being a metropolitan city,” he said. The stringent open space requirements that SEZs have to abide by would ensure that the city does not transform into a concrete jungle, he hoped.

According to Priyankar Bhikshu, associate director, research and consulting, DTZ and author of the report, the pace of this development means that Pune’s reputation as a major hub for back-end operations is poised to be reinforced. Explaining the rationale behind the report he said, “There was no report that could decisively give an overview analysis of the SEZ scene in the country from the point of view of the tenant, real estate developers and investors. Hence the exercise.”

In terms of future outlook, the report said three large areas for IT/ITes — Hinjewadi, Talwade and Kharadi, that MIDC propelled into growth a few years ago — have started to show returns. Industry majors like Wipro, Infosys, KPIT Cummins, Syntel already present with their campus style developments in these regions are in expansion mode with Kharadi being touted as the next major IT destination after Hinjewadi.

News Published Under:   Real Estate India, Special Economic Zones, Real Estate Developers |

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