In a recent council meet, mayor Saidai S Duriasamy said he had written to CMDA on the number of OSR violations. In its reply on July 30, CMDA said 31 large establishments in areas like T Nagar, Mylapore, Alwarpet and Perambur had violated the rules in the past few years.

According to the rules, developers of complexes between 3,000 sq m and 10,000 sq m should keep aside 10% of the land for parks or playgrounds and hand over gift deeds of the properties to the corporation through CMDA. The civic body will also check complaints against malls, hotels and several government departments that have violated OSR rules.

“We have decided to take stringent measures to recover OSR lands. We will conduct a field verification exercise to ensure the pieces of land are not encroached upon. All recovered lands will be converted into parks for the benefit of public,” said a corporation official.

A 2010-11 audit report of CMDA annual accounts found that more than 15,000 sq m of OSR land were not transferred to local bodies in 2011. According to corporation records, of the 578 identified OSR lands, parks were set up in 152 places.

While 161 parks were set up during 1991-2006, 99 parks were set up during 2006-11.

Sources say several OSR lands are being used for private purposes and also encroached upon due to lack of records. All the corporation’s land holdings are to be managed by the parks and land and estates departments but both are suffering from a staff crunch.

V Gopalakrishnan, an RTI activist, said OSR violations were rampant. “For instance, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board is yet to transfer an OSR land at Sathyamurthy Block in West Jafferkhanpet despite several petitions. ” He added that the corporation should put up a list of OSR lands on its website.

15 AC Amma Theatres In Community Halls; Tickets To Be Priced Below Rs 25

With a target of having one Amma theatre in each of the 15 zones in the first phase, the civic body is looking to convert some of its old unused buildings including community halls. Nungambakkam, Ramapuram, Mint, Anna Nagar, Harbour, Maduravoyal and Perungudi will be among the first neighbourhoods to get Amma theatres.

After mayor Saidai S Duraisamy made the announcement in the corporation bud get for 2014-15, officials have been identifying land and buildings for the theatres. A corporation official said, “We are studying the space and location in each zone. Tenders will soon be issued to set up the theatres.“

He said only `U' certified Tamil movies would be screened in these theatres.
“The theatres will be airconditioned, will have advanced sound systems and show the latest movies. It will provide entertainment for residents at an affordable cost,“ the official said.

“Land for the theatres in outlying areas is not a prob lem. But it is difficult to get space in the city . But we are in the process of finalising unused space in the city ,“ the official said.

Not everyone, however, is enthused by the move. R Panneerselvam, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors' Association, said there was a huge decline of audience in theatres because of pirated CDs and satellite TV .
“The number of theatres in Tamil Nadu has reduced from 2,600 in 1984 to 1,160 now. Last week, three theatres closed down in the state. Multiplexes in shopping malls are surviving by selling food products at high rates,“ he said.

Kollywood movie buffs, especially students, have welcomed the move. “I am excited about these Amma theatres.
Where else can I watch movies for less than `25 in an airconditioned cinema hall? But I hope they also maintain them well.

Since the tickets come at a subsidized rate, miscreants and drunkards may find a haven there,” said Arun Kumar, a Vijay fan.

Some residents are sceptical about the move. “I am not sure if the government has its priorities right,” said V Prakash, a resident of Kodambakkam. “The civic body should concentrate on good roads, public toilets and other basic amenities which would help all strata of people.” The corporation official said Amma theatres would offer more than entertainment.

“Recently, the civic body screened the biopic of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan for 5,000 students of corporation schools in private theatres. Such inspiring movies would be screened for students in Amma theatres,” the official added.

The Lok Sabha passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill on September 6 and three days later, the SC asked all states to form TVCs within two months and register vendors in four months.

The Street Vendors Bill sets the maximum number of hawkers in a city at 2.5% of its total population.
Chennai, with a popula tion of 65 lakh, can have up to 1.62 lakh hawkers or an additional 50,000. The corporation will have to register all of them and provide them with dedicated hawking spaces and identity cards. The city has 3,966 registered hawkers, but more than a lakh others have no licence.

A TVC has to be set up under the chairmanship of the municipal commissioner. Besides the 40% hawker union presence, 10% of the commit the commit tee will be members from NGOs and the remaining 50% will be made up of bureaucrats, police and other authorities.

The new policy says hawkers will be rehabilitated in a systematic manner in areas that will be demarcated as hawking and non-hawking zones. The criterion for mark ing hawking zones is that they should not affect pedestrian movement in the area.

V Maheswaran, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Street Vending Workers Federation, said, “The corporation doesn’t have any right to evict hawkers from the roadsides till licensing, registration and hawking zone demarcations are completed.” The civic body has also failed to act on the Madras HC directive to regulate hawkers on Marina and Elliot’s beaches. Corporation officials said they are yet to get an instruction from the state government on setting up of TVCs.

Suspected Anti-Consumer Practices, Emergence Of Cartels

Among other charges, these developers are being probed for inserting one-sided clauses in favour of the companies and against the interest of consumers in the buyer agreements for sale of flats, apartments and other residential properties, along with other other anti-competitive practices.

A senior Competition Commission (CCI) official told PTI that certain details have also been sought from these real estate players, while they would also be given an opportunity to present their case before the regulator. However, it could not be ascertained whether any company has already been found prima facie guilty of violating any provisions of the Competition Act.

The CCI has pulled up many realty players in the past for violating fair trade norms, while a huge penalty of Rs 630 crore was earlier imposed on DLF . The order was later upheld by the Competition Appellate Tribunal as well and DLF has now filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. Among others, information has been sought in the present case from Unitech, Omaxe, Puravankara, Parsvnath, Supertech, BPTP , Oberoi Realty, Amrapali, Ansal Properties & Infra, Prestige Estates, Tata Housing, Gaursons, K Raheja, Avalon, Purohit Construction, Aparna Construction and Amit Enterprises, as also from the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai).

Sources said that notices were issued following a detailed investigation report by the CCI's director general that flagged off various issues in the realty sector. The Director General had probed certain alleged common practices by builders and developers who are members of Credai.

Some of the companies have already submitted their written responses to CCI on this matter.

When contacted, a Tata Housing spokesperson said the company has filed its response to the CCI notice well within the stipulated time.

An Omaxe spokesperson also said it had received a notice from CCI “like all other major developers in India“ and it has filed its reply to the regulator.

“The matter came before CCI on July 24. A few other developers sought time to file reply. The adjourned date is September 24, 2014,“ the spokesperson added .

`Why Same Man For So Many Panels'

As if to remind the former judge about his responsibilities as head of the consumer panel, the first bench, comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, called for a report from the com mission on how many cases are pending before it, and for how long.

“It appears that the government has appointed a commission of inquiry to probe the incident (building collapse). We are, however, told that the commission of inquiry is headed by a retired HC judge who happens to be holding another inquiry apart from holding the post of president of state consumer commission. There is no second say that the matter needs attention and quick investigation,“ the judges said.

`Probe panels rarely indict govt'

Barring a few, all inquiry commissions give a clean chit to the governments which constituted them or give `findings' which are so delayed that they hardly matter.
“There is hardly any case to show that inquiry commission found them (governments) guilty,“ ex-HC judge K Chandru said. P 2 “A moot point is whether somebody burdened already with so many tasks would be able to find time for an exclusive inquiry, and that too at the cost of the judicial work at the state consumer commission,” the judges said.

The judges made the observations when a PIL filed by DMK leader and former deputy chief minister M K Stalin came up for hearing.

The PIL said the official figure of 61 dead and 27 injured was “incorrect”, as there were at least 300 families of workers staying in the ill-fated Moulivakkam building, and even today there are some relatives visiting the spot looking for their relatives. Perhaps alarmed by the claim, the first bench called for a status report on the progress of the probe after state advocate general A L Somayaji offered to file a report. The judges said the report should address the allegations about the possibility of more bodies lying buried and undiscovered under the debris.

Earlier, P Wilson, senior counsel for Stalin, told the bench that several crucial relaxations were made in the development control rules to enable builder Ma

He said the FIR in the case had been carefully drafted to ensure that it revolved around only the builders, and that nothing is mentioned about corruption of officials, favours done and involvement of constitutional functionaries who granted planning permission.

He said there was a great hurry in giving statutory clearance for the housing project, and several state ministers helped the builder speed up the process. Two government orders were issued in November 2012 and June 2013 relaxing building rules relating to road width, he said.

The bench adjourned the matter to August 28 for further proceedings.

Retail price of a 50kg bag has increased to nearly `350 from less than `300 a few months ago. Real estate developers body Credai chairman Lalit Kumar Jain said his association would move fairplay watchdog Competition Commission of India, to seek action against cement manufacturers.

But N Srinivasan of India Cements, MD of The India Cements, south India's largest cement maker by volume, denied the charges.
“This is nonsense. We have announced our financial results for the quarter ending June. We incurred a net loss of `2.96 crore,“ he said.

“A square foot of construction requires half a bag of cement. At today's price, this would mean that the cement component of the overall construction cost is just `180/sqft,“ he said.

“Between 2009 and now, cement prices have gone up from `250 to `350 per bag. We have analysed real estate prices in this period. The minimum increase in apartment prices is `3,200/sqft in Mogappair and the maximum `11,000/sqft in RA Puram,“ Srinivasan said.

Credai members have also mooted the idea of setting up or acquiring a plant to sell cement to its members at lower prices. “They want to set up a cement plant when we are unable to run our plants due to poor demand and low prices,“ another cement manufacturer said.

Srinivasan said longterm special prices or negotiated prices with cement companies may help. In the city the negotiated price is `310 per bag while the stickiest price is `350 per bag.

“No builder buys at market price. They buy at negotiated special prices. Because cement is an organised industry , they are attacking us,“ he said. “Can they protest against the increase in the price of sand or steel, which are not in the organised sector?“

Unused Space To Be Utilised To Make Electricity

The civic body is now planning to set up biogas plants at burial grounds in the city. A corporation official said there were nearly 200 burial grounds. “Ideally, every ward should have a biogas plant to convert organic waste to energy. But most residents don’t want such plants in their localities even though they generate waste. So we are now looking at burial grounds.” He said they had earlier proposed to set up such plants in a few public parks, but scrapped the proposal after opposition from locals who feared the parks would turn filthy. Nearly 30% of the 5,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated in Chennai every day is biodegradable. The corporation plans to segregate waste at garbage transfer stations to reduce the volume of waste reaching the city’s two

Meanwhile, the corporation will declare ward 173 in Adyar, where people have begun source segregation, a ‘zero waste’ model ward. It also plans to set up a biogas plant in the ward to handle food waste. “We plan to use electricity produced to power street lights in the area,” the official said. Transparent Chennai, an NGO, was mapping the waste generation pattern of the ward, which includes Greenways

Corporation officials have received good response for source segregation from areas like Harrington Road, Boat Club Road and MRC Nagar. The civic body will rope in bulk garbage generators like hotels, shopping malls and marriage halls to reduce the volume of non-degradable waste going to the dumping yards. In Central Chennai, for instance, several hotels have agreed to segregate food waste and provide it to the plant. A special vehicle has been arranged to pick up garbage at night.

“If they don’t set up these biogas plants, then they may have to pay additional conservancy charge for transporting waste”, the official added. Officials said the corporation would soon float tenders to set up solid waste processing plants before scientifically closing down the Perungudi and Kodangaiyur dumpyards.

According to estimates from the Centre, the mausoleum and its integrated com plex of structures raked in ` `21.84 crore, mostly in entrance fees, in 2013-14.

The top 20 monuments collected ` `80.01 crore. Palla

Qutub-Minar, Delhi’s landmark red sandstone tower, came in third with Rs 10.16 crore, Humayun Tomb was fourth (Rs 7.12 crore) and Red Fort fifth (Rs 6.15 crore).

The beauty of Shah Jahan’s memorial to Mumtaz Mahal has fascinated people from across the world for centuries. It was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1983 and is considered one of the 7 New Wonders of the World.

The country’s top 20 monuments earned Rs 80.01 crore in gate fees, of which those in and around Delhi accounted for Rs 49.36 crore. The Ellora and Ajanta Caves earned Rs 3.06 crore, with Ellora alone generating Rs 2.06 crore.

Historic sites in Fatehpur Sikri like the Tomb of Salim Chishti and Akbar’s imposing Buland Darwaza together collected Rs 5.62 crore.In the south, Pallava-era temples and other structures at Mamallapuram, 50km south of Chennai, generated Rs 2.72 crore in revenue, the highest in the southern states. Charminar in Hydera

But historians say the authorities do not plough back enough of the revenue earned to conserve historic structures.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) spent only a fraction of Taj Mahal’s take — Rs 2.85 crore — on maintenance and repairs of the monument in the last fiscal.

With a giant loop of the extremely polluted River Yamuna within touching distance of the structure’s northern face, and

The tourism industry says the government could earn even more from its historic sites if it marketed them better.

Akash To Help Launch Mukesh's Telecom Venture Rel Jio, Jai Anmol Joins Anil's Fin Co

Reliance Industries (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani's elder son Akash Ambani recently joined RIL to help launch the conglomerate's re-entry in telecommunications with Reliance Jio, while Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani's son Jai Anmol has joined Reliance Capital. While Akash will be in operations, it'll be finance for Jai Anmol. When contacted by TOI, officials in both companies confirmed the move.

Rewind to the eighties when the family was still very much together. Mukesh gave up his management studies at Stanford midway to join Reliance Industries in 1981 when his father called him back. Famed for his project management skills, Mukesh initiated Reliance's backward integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals and petroleum refining, and upstream into oil and gas exploration and production. In the process he created the world's large st grassroots petroleum refinery in Jamnagar. Two years later, his younger brother Anil after finishing his management at Wharton joined RIL as co-chief executive officer to pioneer financial innovations and lead India Inc's foray into overseas capital markets.

The clock appears to have come a full circle. The cousins, both 22, representing the third generation of the Ambanis, are joining their respective businesses at a time when the next big push is needed for both groups, as they chase growth in an economy struggling to come out of a slowdown. Their fathers had entered the business when they were around 24 and the group needed a big move forward.

Akash, an economics graduate from Brown University , who was first formally seen with his father in 2011 at the signing the $7.2-billion deal with BP Plc, is now involved in rolling out Reliance Jio's complex 4G broadband wireless service offerings, which could redraw the telecommunications landscape. His father did the same more than a decade ago with the launch of Reliance Infocom, now Reliance Communications (part of Anil Ambani's portfolio following the demerger of the Reliance empire in 2005).

On the other hand, Anil Ambani's son Jai Anmol, a graduate from UK's Warwick Business School, has joined Reliance Capital, as he is said to have demonstrated a keen interest in finance.

Jai Anmol is learnt to have been actively involved in the Rs 12,000-crore acquisition of Jaypee Associates's power assets, where the Adani Group and JSW Group had also thrown in their hats. “Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh is mentoring Jai Anmol for a bigger role in the Reliance Group,“ said a company insider.

The Ambani cousins are joining their father's business at a time when a host of other business family scions are already learning the ropes in their respective groups. Gautam Adani's son Karan, who got married last year, is helping shape Mundra into a leading global port operator. Suzlon Group chairman Tulsi Tanti's son Pranav, on the other hand, is working to improve the group's financials for a turnaround in 2015. Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal's son Agnivesh, who's based out of Dubai, is taking care of the metals trading business while his daughter Priya is a non-executive director at Cairn India and handles CSR and branding activities. RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka's son Anant Goenka became the managing director of CEAT Ltd at 30. However, HCL promoter Shiv Nadar's daughter Roshni is stepping out of her father's shadow to make a foray into the healthcare business.

Earlier, a case under Section 138 could be initiated by the holder of the cheque at his place of business or residence. But a bench of Justice T S Thakur, Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice C Nagappan ruled that the case has to be initiated at the place where the bank branch on which the cheque was drawn is located.

This means that if a man from Delhi gives a cheque drawn on a Delhi bank for buying something in Chennai and it bounces due to insufficient funds, the aggrieved person will have to travel all the way from Chennai to Delhi to initiate prosecution under Section 138.

Also, the judgment will apply retrospectively. This means that lakhs of pending cases will witness a interstate transfer.

Writing the judgment, Justice Sen said: “We are quite alive to the magnitude of the impact the present decision shall have to possibly lakhs of cases pending in various courts.”

However, the court said that those cases where recording of evidence has started after issuance of summons to the accused, would continue to be tried at the place they were instituted.

“To clarify, regardless of whether evidence has been led before the magistrate at the pre-summoning stage, either by affidavit or by oral statement, the complaint will be maintainable only at the place where the cheque stands dishonoured,“ the bench said.

The bench said: “In this analysis, we hold that the place, or venue of judicial inquiry and trial of the offence must logically be restricted to where the drawee bank is located.“

“An interpretation should not be imparted to Section 138 which will render it as a device of harassment, that is, by sending notices (about the bouncing of cheque under Section 138) from a place which has no casual connection with the transaction itself, andor by presenting cheques at any of the banks where the payee may have an account,“ the bench said.

“It is also now manifest that traders and businessmen have become reckless and incautious in extending credit where they would heretofore have been extremely hesitant, solely because of the availability of redress by criminal proceedings,“ the bench said referring to the rapid increase in institution of cases under Section 138 of NI Act after it was made a criminal offence.

“Today's reality is that every magistracy is inundated with prosecutions under Section 138 of the NI Act, so much so that the burden is becoming unbearable and detrimental to the disposal of other equally pressing litigation,“ the court said. For filing a criminal case under Section 138 NI Act, the holder of the cheque must have to travel to the place where the branch of the bank on which the cheque was drawn is located, it said. In the alternative, he could institute acase under Section 420 (cheating) at the place of his residence or where he ordinarily carries out business.

“If the payee succeeds in establishing that the inducement for accepting a cheque which subsequently bounced had occurred where he resides or ordinarily transacts business, he will not have to suffer the travails of journeying to the place where the cheque has been dishonoured,“ it said.

“All remedies under the IPC and CrPC are available to such a payee if he chooses to pursue this course of action, rather than a complaint under Section 138 of NI Act. And of course, he can file a suit for recovery wherever the cause of action arises dependent on his choosing,“ the court said.

“The three turnkey projects will establish a 400230 100 KV air-insulated substation at Rasipalayam near Sulur in Coimbatore district, connecting the state's transmission network to the national grid. It will also establish two 230110 KV air-insulated substations in Vyasarpadi and in an industrial estate, both in Chennai,“ an Alstom official said. The substations to be set up near Chennai will stabilise power supply in and around the city and cope with increasing industrialisation.

“Alstom will supply 62 airinsulated bays, two power transformers, eight autotransformers and other equipment for these contracts.
Equipment will be supplied from Alstom T&D India's manufacturing facilities spread across the country ,“ Al stom T&D India MD, Rathin Basu said. “Alstom is ready to support the state government's plans to strengthen the transmission network backbone, and to distribute quality power efficiently to the consumers,“ Basu said.

“The substation to be set up near Sulur will evacuate power from wind mills in and around Pollachi,“ a TNEB official said. TNEB has already awarded a transmission contract to L&T to evacuate power from the region. A separate substation will be set up at the Omega Industrial Estate coming up with Japanese support near Ambattur. “The substation to be set up at Vyasarpadi will be used to evacuate power from the thermal plants at Ennore and north Chennai,“ the official said.

“Gas-insulated substations are set up in places like Mylapore where land is scarce. These substations are costly to set up but require little land. The substation cost is offset by savings on the land cost. But air-insulated substation needs more land and that is why we have such substations in suburbs and other towns of the state where land is not very scarce,“ said the official. At present, Tantransco has 14 400KV substations, 72 230KV substations and 580 110KV substations and 95 substations in Chennai.

State Bank Warns Of Repayment Crisis In Poll-Bound States

The bank has said that it is cutting off credit to defaulters and expects repayments to commence if there is no clarity on the waivers for a couple of months. Announcing the bank's results, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said that there were Rs 1,959 crore of fresh slippages in NPAs, of which Rs 600 crore was due to bad loans from Andhra.

“The problem is that when one account of a borrower is classified as NPA, all his other accounts also become NPAs. So the agri slippage of Rs 600 crore has resulted in another Rs 150 crore of slippage in retail loans because any gold loans or auto loans these borrowers have also gets classified as NPAs,“ she said. “We believe that these two states have a lot of potential and unless these two states have access to bank finance, they will not be able to come up to full potential,“ said Bhattacharya speaking of the damage caused by defaults.

A division bench of the Madras high court trashed the claim on Friday , saying, “The secured asset is situated at Casuarina Drive in Neelankarai, which has become a very posh residential area in Chennai and a number of posh and giant residential projects have come up in and around the area. The petitioners themselves have constructed a huge bungalow with a swimming pool and a tennis court there. Therefore, when the bank resorted to taking possession of the same, we do not find any justification on the part of the petitioners to contend that the asset is an agricultural land.“

The private auto components company had taken Rs 26 crore as loan from Indian Bank and pledged the Neelankarai property as collateral security . It moved the high court after the bank took steps to take possession of the property under the SARFAESI Act.

V Raghavachari, company's counsel, said since the property was agricultural land, no recovery could be made. The bank has no authority to initiate proceedings under the SARFAESI Act and it is open to the bank to recover the amount due in any other manner known to law, he said.He also submitted income tax receipts and certificates by a village administrative officer certify ing that it was indeed agricultural land.

B Benjamin George, counsel for the bank, said it was the company's attempt to defeat the bank's bid to realize the loan amount, and added that mere production of VAO certificates and photos was not sufficient to prove it was agricultural land. There should be basic operations involving human skill and labour.

Concurring with him, a division bench headed by Justice S Rajeswaran said income tax returns, photographs and certificates issued by VAO cannot conclusively prove that the secured property was agricultural land. Noting that prior to the arrival of the SARFAESI Act, banks were not empowered to take possession of securities and dispose them of to realise debts, it said, “When the bank had resorted to take possession of the secured asset, the petitioners are trying to frustrate the attempt of the bank.“

Upholding an order of the Chengalpet District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, the commission said the Chennai-based builder would have to pay a sum of ` `10,000 in addition for the mental agony and hardship caused to the complainants.

The bank had denied the couple a housing loan as the builder had violated the plan approval by constructing an 8storey building instead of a 4storey structure that he had obtained permission for.

Petitioners J Leo and Padmini Jayaraj, represented by S R Pasupathi of Sankarankovil, Tirunelveli, submitted that they booked a flat from Pace Builders, Anna Nagar, by paying an advance of ` `1 lakh out of a total cost of ` `46.45 lakh. They entered into a sale cum-construction agreement on May 12, 2007. They then paid `6.80 lakh for the construction. The building firm, which assured the couple that it would arrange for a housing loan, failed to secure the loan because of development violations in the building from the approved plan and the sale cum-construction agreement.

The couple appealed to the consumer forum and sought a direction that they be granted possession of the flat. In case the builder failed to give them possession of the flat, they sought compensation of ` `12 lakh for mental agony and also refund of the advance.

While denying the allegations, the construction company admitted that it had collected ` `7.80 lakh from the couple. But the company said the couple had not paid the balance they owed and said it had never guaranteed that it would secure a housing loan for the couple from a bank.

In October 2012, the Chengalpet District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed the builder to refund ` `7.80 lakh and awarded a compen sation of ` `10,000 for mental agony and hardship caused to the complainant. The builder filed an appeal.

A bench of president Justice R Regupathi and judicial member A K Annamalai said the builder could not fulfil its promise to secure a housing loan because of deviations from the approved plan. “It is clear there was lapse on the part of [the builder] in fulfilling the terms and conditions of the agreement and [it has] not denied deviation from the plan… Thereby the district forum’s award is normal and justifiable,” it said.

“The builder has not fulfilled the terms of agreement,” the bench said. Dismissing the appeal, the bench said, “The case needs no interference by the commission.”

The 2.4 million sqft IT park, with leasable area of 2 million sqft and 10 acres of land, has gone at a conservative `3,000 per sqft. Taking into account the construction cost of IT parks in the city, the buyer has got the land virtually free, said a realty consultant. The Gagan Banga-promoted Indiabulls Securities' subsidiary, Indiabulls Distribution Services Limited, had purchased the IT park, the company informed stock exchanges. India Land in Ambattur industrial estate has three 16-storey towers. With steel girders and glass panels, it is one among the iconic buildings in Chennai. The park was designed by interna tionally acclaimed Zaha Hadid, UK.

“The buyer has got a good deal while for India Land the exit appears smooth considering they have divested two other real estate assets in Chennai. The transaction is a welcome sign and any rebranding by India Bulls will bring in a fresh perspective,“ said Rajesh Babu, chief consultant, RECS Group, a consultancy which marketed India Land to several clients including RBS.

India Land, promoted by Madrid-based NRI Harish Fa biani who is a co-promoter of Americorp Ventures is an in vestor in several successful companies including IndiaBulls, Edelweiss and TV 18.Fabiani brothers, Harish and Kamal, had purchased the land in 2006 at nearly `4 crore per acre, said sources.

Currently some portions of the towers are leased to tenants like RBS, Kone, Britannia Industries, Ajuba, Cov enant, Telebuy and IBox. By present rentals, Indiabulls may manage to get just about 10% annual returns from the investment, said a realtor.

Chennai has witnessed a few high-value land deals in the past two years. IndiabullsIndia Land deal announced on Wednesday is the second highest realty deal in Chennai.Chennai, saw a strong quarterly growth rate of more than 50% in Grade A office space absorption during the third quarter of 2014, signalling a sustained improvement in office space leasing sentiments, consultants CBRE said.

The office district of the Ambattur micro-market has attracted enhanced transactions over the past couple of quarters. Its proximity to the city centre and cost-effective rents have aided its emergance as a potential IT hub.

 

 

 

Reflecting the appetite for quality IT space in the city, Indiabulls has acquired India Land Tech Park in Ambattur for `600 crore. It will be renamed One Indiabulls Park.

The 2.4 million sqft IT park, with leasable area of 2 million sqft and 10 acres of land, has gone at a conservative `3,000 per sqft. Taking into account the construction cost of IT parks in the city, the buyer has got the land virtually free, said a realty consultant. The Gagan Banga-promoted Indiabulls Securities' subsidiary, Indiabulls Distribution Services Limited, had purchased the IT park, the company informed stock exchanges. India Land in Ambattur industrial estate has three 16-storey towers. With steel girders and glass panels, it is one among the iconic buildings in Chennai. The park was designed by interna tionally acclaimed Zaha Hadid, UK.

“The buyer has got a good deal while for India Land the exit appears smooth considering they have divested two other real estate assets in Chennai. The transaction is a welcome sign and any rebranding by India Bulls will bring in a fresh perspective,“ said Rajesh Babu, chief consultant, RECS Group, a consultancy which marketed India Land to several clients including RBS.

India Land, promoted by Madrid-based NRI Harish Fa biani who is a co-promoter of Americorp Ventures is an in vestor in several successful companies including IndiaBulls, Edelweiss and TV 18.Fabiani brothers, Harish and Kamal, had purchased the land in 2006 at nearly `4 crore per acre, said sources.

Currently some portions of the towers are leased to tenants like RBS, Kone, Britannia Industries, Ajuba, Cov enant, Telebuy and IBox. By present rentals, Indiabulls may manage to get just about 10% annual returns from the investment, said a realtor.

Chennai has witnessed a few high-value land deals in the past two years. IndiabullsIndia Land deal announced on Wednesday is the second highest realty deal in Chennai.Chennai, saw a strong quarterly growth rate of more than 50% in Grade A office space absorption during the third quarter of 2014, signalling a sustained improvement in office space leasing sentiments, consultants CBRE said.

The office district of the Ambattur micro-market has attracted enhanced transactions over the past couple of quarters. Its proximity to the city centre and cost-effective rents have aided its emergance as a potential IT hub.

Back in the saddle this June, Naidu 2.0 is closer to his old avatar. His pincer raids on Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have raised hackles in both Bengaluru and Chennai. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the unfair tax breaks Andhra gets because of its `new state' status.And no surprise, J Jayalalithaa had also shot off a similar missive to the PM.

That the CM of a state that's synonymous with IT and accounts for almost 40% of India's technology industry is worried about Naidu's charm offensive is a good indicator of how seriously Karnataka is taking the threat.

Naidu wants to attract $2 billion in IT investments over the next five years to Andhra.He also wants to create 50 lakh tech jobs, take broadband connectivity (1000 mbps or gigabit) to every village, and make at least one person e-literate in every household. To boost entrepreneurship, he plans to create one million sq ft of incubation space by 2019.

In early November, Naidu was back in Bengaluru meeting industry captains. He shared his vision on how technology would be the backbone of his new state. He also met senior executives from firms like Flipkart, First American Corporation, ITC Infotech and ABB among others.

Naidu also inaugurated the Bengaluru facility of Nutanix, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest start-ups, before sitting through an hour-long session on e-governance and financial inclusion at the start-up incubator founded by American-Indian billionaire Vinod Khosla. He visited Khosla Labs and was keen on exploring the possibility of using Aadhaar at MeeSeva (at your service in Telugu), a single portal for government-tocustomer and governmentto-business services. “He had a lot of questions on how GIS (geographic information systems) could help solve civic problems. Our whole pitch was about governing using data, about running cities using a single dashboard, and he was very impressed,” Srikanth Nadhamuni, CEO of Khosla Labs, told TOI.

“He’s clearly a very forward thinking leader, an entrepreneur at heart, someone very keen on public service,” said Dheeraj Pandey, founder of Nutanix, the five-year-old California-based company.

Naidu got to know of Nutanix thanks to B V Jagadeesh, an American-Indian entrepreneur who grew up in Bengaluru and is now an investor in a range of start-ups, including Nutanix. Naidu’s forays to Bengaluru have a specific purpose: To lure investments into the backward Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, whose border lies just 80km from Bengaluru international airport. Naidu, in his state, is being accused of being partial to the region around Vijayawada, leaving the drylands of Rayalaseema — where his rival Jagan Reddy is strong — out of the development agenda.

In Tamil Nadu, Naidu’s focus is to get manufacturing investment to move across the border to Sri City, a special economic zone located in Tada, just 55km from Chennai, at the southernmost tip of Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district.

Naidu is pushing for Tada so that major investments that can leverage proximity to Chennai can be located here.

Japanese auto giant Isuzu first zeroed in on Chennai for its India plant, before settling on Sri City. Lack of industrial land and power in Tamil Nadu combined with access to a high-quality port at Krishnapatnam in Nellore is moving industrial projects across the border. This is naturally causing jitters in Chennai.

In fact, much to Karnataka’s chagrin, Naidu got Hero MotorCorp to set up its first factory in south Andhra Pradesh. Siddaramaiah had then said, “We offered maximum concessions to the company (tax holidays, excise duty exemption). But, AP offered them free land. We cannot do that.” Power is another plus for Naidu. With his government promising uninterrupted power to factories, the Andhra-TN border area is turning attractive for industry. In fact, what Naidu is doing to TN is exactly what that state did to Karnataka a couple of decades ago. Between 1978 and 1985, a flurry of investments meant for Bangalore stopped just inside the TN border. TVS Motor, Ashok Leyland, Titan and several others pumped in hundreds of crores into Hosur, which is 40km from Bangalore.

Manufacturing investments, obviously, are big on Naidu’s mind. End-November will see Naidu in Japan where he will pitch for Japanese companies to set up shop in Tada even while seeking investments for his new capital.

This is reminiscent of what he did earlier. In December 1999, Naidu had flown to Bangalore — which was a redhot tech destination — and pleaded with members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to consider Andhra. He pitched proximity to the interstate border and assured investors of royal treatment. “More than what he said it was his audacity to call for investments from another state that appealed to businessmen. He was the first chief minister anywhere to woo investors from other states. Previously CMs only went to Delhi to showcase their states,” remembers T Ramappa, then secretary of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Businessmen were smitten and poured into Hyderabad for follow-up meetings.

Babu — as Naidu is referred to in Andhra Pradesh — did not restrict himself to the Karnataka capital. In the manner of a salesman, he travelled to the US and sat outside the office of Bill Gates for a few hours to meet him. The result: Microsoft set up a development centre in Hyderabad and kickstarted an IT enclave in the city of Nizams appropriately called Cyberabad. Many other tech companies followed although by the time they actually set up shop Naidu had lost the elections. They included Infosys, Wipro, Facebook and Google. Naidu also offered free land to the Indian School of Business and got it located in Hyderabad though its first choice was Maharashtra. Impressed by the upcoming Hyderabad, even US President Bill Clinton decided to drop by.

This time around, Naidu’s mission is different. Although he claims that creation of a modern IT industry in the new Andhra Pradesh is also his mission, insiders know that with a large coastline, exportoriented manufacturing near the ports offers a greater opportunity. Moreover, strapped for cash, Naidu requires a lot of investment for the mega new capital that he wants to build on the river Krishna across the city of Vijayawada. “I had wanted to develop Visakhapatnam after Hyderabad but by the time its turn came I had lost elections,” he says candidly.

Now, Visakhapatnam — with a navy base, two ports and a significant cosmopolitan crowd — is sought to be promoted as the Mumbai of the east. This is a trifle ambitious considering that the city is still reeling from a major cyclone and being on the east coast is vulnerable to more such storms in the future. “We also want to develop ocean-front Vizag that is surrounded by hills and exotic spots as a major tourism destination,” says Andhra’s special chief secretary Chandana Khan. According to latest reports, Singapore is weighing Naidu’s plea to help prepare a blue print for Andhra’s capital.

S M Krishna, when he was Karnataka chief minister, went head-to-head with Naidu to attract IT investments and turn Bangalore into a Singapore. If Naidu has his way, perhaps it will be Vijayawada that will become India’s Singapore.

(Inputs from ND Shivakumar in Bengaluru)

The city ranked first in available talent pool among 10 challenger cities, including Ahmedabad and Kolkata and second in cost effectiveness. Coimbatore hosts companies such as Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys, Robert Bosch, TCS, IBM and KGISL.

In the last three years, 100 startup IT companies have set up shop in Coimbatore, said K Purushothaman, regional director, Nasscom, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “ About 50 of these companies are valued between `1 crore and `10 crore,“ he said.

Starting out as a cotton mill cluster, its industry focus shifted to textiles then pumpset and wet grinder manufacturing. It then became an auto spare parts making pioneer. Coimbatore has constantly reinvented itself as a thriving industrial destination. The coming decade could perhaps belong to the IT sector.

The newly established IT companies in Coimbatore are growing at a healthy 15%, said Purushothaman. “These companies are doing better than those in other tier II cities,“ he said.

This growth has happened at a time when the manufacturing sector in the city was going through a turbulent period due to power cuts, taxation policy and economic slowdown. “ After the economic slowdown in 2008, suspension of yarn export and high volatility in cotton price, power crisis and high VAT affected the textile industry ,“ said K Selvaraj, secretary general, South India Mills Association.

K Nandakumar, president, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry , said auto spares makers and the pump set sector, which is the largest in the country with a 50% market share, were also hit over the past few years. “Usually , the pump set sector slows down in September and picks up in January . But the pattern did not set in this year,“ he said. “But the future is bright. The sluggish pace is only part of a cycle.“

Industry captains expressed apprehension over growth of IT sector in Coimbatore. “Connectivity is a major drawback. Though IT companies have branches here, big projects go to other cities,“ said an industrialist.

Representatives of the IT sector said connectivity is a problem but they are optimistic. “These are challenges not deterrents. Even Bangalore faced lot of problems in the early days,“ said Anand Purushothaman, CEO of Payoda Technologies, which opened in the city four years ago. “We have plans for exponential growth next year.“