Infrastructure-Economy-News-The Economic Times

Friday, July 20, 2007

Builders - ATS Group

ATS Group (ATS) was founded in 1998 and has kept growing to becoming a brand to be reckoned with in the real estate industry today. We are a young endeavour comprising of experienced professionals - Anand, Talwar and Saha, and we were quickly recognized by the market and soon forged into a group with spiraling growth to 3 separate companies– ATS Infrastructures Ltd., ATS Promoters and Builders and ATS Construction and Maintenance Pvt. Ltd.

Since 1998, we have built 2 residential complexes in sector 50, Noida of over 500,000 Sq.ft - ATS Greens I & ATS Greens II, both of which are 100 % occupied.

The overwhelming response and high demands led us to our 3rd project in Noida - ATS Greens Village which is an over 1.5 Million sq. ft project. It is sold out and is due for occupation before the end of 2005. The upcoming project is our first in Greater Noida - ATS Greens Paradiso, We would be launching in Chandigarh and Gurgaon very soon.

ATS Website
Though the company is new, the promoters are thorough-bred to the business. Mr. Getambar Anand, and Mr. Ashwani Talwar, together formed T&A Erectors (P) Ltd., in 1990 and have been involved with the real estate industry at various levels.

Mr. Anand and Mr. Talwar being school mates have grown up together making them ideal partners. While working on a project along with Mr. Anil Kumar Saha, an old friend, they came upon the idea of teaming up and putting their respective skills to a better use by becoming the founders and promoters of ATS (Anand, Talwar & Saha).

At that time, in the late 90’s, the mass movement was towards Gurgaon. We had the vision and belief in Noida. Our vision of Noida has transformed it into a global city catapulting it to new heights. Our trend-setting approach and pioneering efforts have brought fortunes to thousands of families who bear the ATS smile. Noida is seeing a spate of development in the form of Ultra Modern shopping Malls, elaborate residential complexes & colonies, MNC corporate offices, wider roads and easy access from Delhi and surrounding areas.

We have always been the trend setters and the Pioneers who played a vital role in making the Property market reach the heights of demand that Noida enjoys today. We bring all the state-of-the-art professional qualities and ingredients of global standards which are a must in today's competitive and liberalized market.

Builders - Ansal Housing

Enter a city within your city. Enter a world complete in itself. Enter Ansals townships.

For the home of your dreams. With all the amenities of the modern life - market places, schools, clubs, post offices, swimming pools, gymnasiums etc. And a pollution-free environment fit for healthy living.

Time to move up in life. With all the pollution in modern day cities, Ansals high rise apartments are the answer to all those seeking respite from the smoke and dust.

Not to mention the modern and functional attributes that make these apartments suitable for people who like to live in an enviable lifestyle.

It's what makes life worth living - good food, good company and a great ambience to top it.

Ansals have provided for your need after a hard day's work - through the finest sports clubs, restaurants, gyms and retreats within the city and on its outskirts.

Unwind and get ready for yet another days grind


Ansal Website

Builders - Sahara Housing

Sahara Infrastructure & Housing is India's best & the largest realtor with leadership in offering innovative products to the esteemed customers.

• We offer broad range of houses, commercial & retail spaces, office spaces and luxurious penthouses & villas.

• Our projects are planned to become living legends of class, comfort & elegance. The world class quality along with adequate emphasis on security & health has given us an edge over others.

• There are various measures to ensure multi-level security to the residents of the townships to create a safe & relaxing environment.

• Health of the residents is another highlighting feature of the townships where complete measure has been taken to ensure health & hygiene.

Sahara Housing website

Builders - CCSE Housing

The “CONSORTIUM OF CENTRAL AND STATE EMPLOYEES” (C.C.S.E)Sahakari Awas Samiti Ltd,is a co-operative Group Housing Society registered with Awas Vikas Parishad, Govt. of U. P "Vide Reg. No.3119".The Society was established in the year 2003 with a vision to change the perspective of “ living” from just living to Modern and healthy living by designing and developing a state of the art Modern Housing Complex for it's members and simultaneously keeping the prices within affordable range. We at CCSE, aspire to write a new chapter in “ GROUP HOUSING ” by developing immaculately planned and ambient designed housing complex with modern infrastructure and amenities to offer quality life-style and healthy living to it's members. This vision and ideology being the theme of the project, we named it “ANANDASHRAY” & "Vrinda City".

CCSE website
This vision of Chandigarh, contained in the innumerable conceptual maps on the drawing board together with notes and sketches had to be translated into brick and mortar. Le Corbusier retained many of the seminal ideas of Mayer and Nowicki, like the basic framework of the master plan and its components: the Capitol, City Centre, besides the University, Industrial area, and linear parkland. Even the neighbourhood unit was retained as the basic module of planning. However, the curving outline of Mayer and Nowicki was reorganised into a mesh of rectangles, and the buildings were characterised by an 'honesty of materials'. Exposed brick and boulder stone masonry in its rough form produced unfinished concrete surfaces, in geometrical structures. This became the architecture form characteristic of Chandigarh, set amidst landscaped gardens and parks.

The initial plan had two phases: the first for a population of 150,000 and the second taking the total population to 500,000. Le Corbusier divided the city into units called 'sectors', each representing a theoretically self-sufficient entity with space for living, working and leisure. The sectors were linked to each other by a road and path network developed along the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy of seven types of circulation patterns. At the highest point in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the city to others, and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets leading to individual houses. Later a V8 was added: cycle and pedestrian paths.

The city plan is laid down in a grid pattern. The whole city has been devided into rectangular patterns, forming identical looking sectors, each sector measures 800 m x 1200 m. The sectors were to act as self-sufficient neighborhoods, each with its own market, places of worship, schools and colleges - all within 10 minutes walking distance from within the sector. The original two phases of the plan delineated sectors from 1 to 47, with the exception of 13.The Assembly, the secretariate and the high court, all located in Sector - 1 are the three monumental buildings designed by Le Corbusier in which he showcased his archtectural geius to the maximum. The city was to be surrounded by a 16 kilometer wide greenbelt that was to ensure that no development could take place in the immediate vicinity of the town, thus checking suburbs and urban sprawl.

While leaving the bulk of the city's architecture to other members of his team, Le Corbusier took responsibility for the overall master plan of the city, and the design of some of the major public buildings including the High Court, Assembly, Secretariat, the Museum and Art Gallery, School of Art and the Lake Club. Le Corbusier's most prominent building, the Court House, consists of the High court, which is literally higher than the other, eight lower courts. Most of the other housing was done by Le Corbusier's cousin Pierre Jeanneret, the English husband and wife team of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, along with a team of nine Indian architects -- M. N. Sharma, A. Ar. Prabhawalkar, B. P. Mathur, Piloo Moody, U. E. Chowdhury, N. S. Lamba, J. L. Malhotra, J. S. Dethe and Aditya Prakash.

The city in its final form, while not resembling his previous city projects like the Ville Contemporaine or the Ville Radieuse, was an important and iconic landmark in the history of town planning. It continues to be an object of interest for architects, planners, historians and social scientists.
It predicts that by 2010, Hyderabad and Chennai will replace Bangalore and Mumbai as the favoured Indian destinations for IT outsourcing.

The study has categorised and evaluated the cities into four tiers based on various factors including infrastructure, skills availability, skills retention, access, cost of living, political support and quality of life.

The report also stated that certain drivers enable these cities as favorable destinations for outsourcing. These include improving infrastructure, overall skills availability, good quality educational institutions and active political support.

The improving infrastructure in Hyderabad has enabled the city to top the ratings in the infrastructure category.

However, other factors that are inhibiting this growing favourability and need to be addressed are increased attrition, inadequate infrastructure, escalating costs and lack of good quality real estate.


Pune which ranked lowest in infrastructure support will need significant investment to be at par with cities like Mumbai and Bangalore or even cities like Chennai and Hyderabad in the future.

Commenting on the report, Partha Iyengar, vice president, Gartner, said: "Bangalore and Mumbai will soon cease to be the default centers for offshoring. Ready availability of skilled labor force with lower attrition rates in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune will lead to companies setting up centers there instead."

"In the long run, other factors including global footprints of service providers, service line capabilities and expatriate index will also play a greater role for global MNCs or IT service providers setting up or expanding in these cities," Iyengar said.

According to the study, the Tier 1-1 cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are at a vantage point. These cities have most, if not all, of the capabilities of the Tier 1s, but, for various reasons, have not achieved the same level of mind-share and visibility.

These cities are the most likely to take on the mantle of Tier 1 in the near future, either in addition to or replacement of the current Tier 1s.

Hyderabad rates almost at par with Mumbai in all factors evaluated, but has scored much higher on 'cost of life' and 'quality of living' where Mumbai has received the lowest ratings.

On recommendations to companies planning to set up centers in India Partha Iyengar said: "When choosing the destination for offshoring, companies should look beyond Mumbai and Bangalore. They will need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various cities, as what they plan to outsource or in-source could very well determine the location."

"They should also factor the expatriate attractiveness of the location which could be an emerging 'swing' factor. Further, if an Indian is involved in the selection, care should be taken to overcome the parochial biases and preferences of the individual, in making the selection," Iyengar said.

Gartner is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry and serves more than 10,000 clients.
Bangalore is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is India's third largest city and fifth largest metropolitan area. Modern Bangalore was founded in 1537 CE by Kempe Gowda, a vassal of the Vijayanagara Empire. Kempe Gowda built a mud fort in the vicinity of modern Bangalore. By 1831, the city was incorporated into the British Raj with the establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment. The British returned dominion of the city to the King of Mysore, choosing however, to retain jurisdiction over the cantonment. Therefore, Bangalore essentially became a twin city, with civic and infrastructural developments of the cantonment conforming to European styles of planning. For most of the period after Indian independence in 1947, Bangalore was a B-1 status city, and was not considered to be one of India's "4 major metropolitan cities". The growth of Information Technology in the city, which is the largest contributor to India's software exports, has led to a decadal growth that is second to only that of India's capital New Delhi. The city's roads, however, were not designed to accommodate the vehicular traffic, growing at an average of 8% annually, that prevails in Bangalore.

Early city planning and infrastructure
A 1924 map of Bangalore showing the major roads and localities of the Bangalore pete and the Bangalore Cantonment. The Bangalore fort is located in the western part of the city.
A 1924 map of Bangalore showing the major roads and localities of the Bangalore pete and the Bangalore Cantonment. The Bangalore fort is located in the western part of the city.

Within the fort built by Kempe Gowda I, the town was divided into petes or localities such as Chikpete, Dodpete and Balepete, with each area intended for different artisans and tradesman. Markets within the town were divided by the nature of the provisions supplied and services rendered — Aralpete, Akkipete, Ragipete, Balepete and Taragupete sold various provisions while Kumbarpete, Ganginarpete, Upparpete, Nagartharapete catered to services. The town within the fort had two main streets — Chikpete street and Dodpete street. Chikpete street ran east-west and Dodpete street ran north-south. Their intersection formed the heart of the town — Dodpete square. The town within the fort was cordoned by nine gates. The four main gates of the fort were Halasoor (east), Sondekoppa (west), Yelahanka (north) and Anekal (south). Kempe Gowda encouraged the construction of temples and residential areas, known as agraharams within the town. Kempe Gowda I sanctioned the construction of lakes within the landlocked city, to provide for a source of water supply. The city's residential areas further developed under Kempe Gowda II, who built four towers to demarcate Bangalore's boundaries. These towers in the modern localities of Lal Bagh, Kempambudhi Tank, Ulsoor lake, and the vicinity of Ramana Maharshi Ashram . In 1758, Bangalore was given as a jahagir to Haider Ali, Commander-in-chief of the Mysore army. Haider Ali built the Delhi and Mysore gates of the fort and further strengthened it with stone walls. The Lal Bagh botanical garden was established in the city during the reigns of Haider Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan. Caputured by the British after the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, Bangalore fell into the dominion of the British Raj. The Diwan of Mysore, Poornaiah, contributed to the development of Bangalore's infrastructure between 1799-1811 CE. He renovated the temple inside the fort and built a choultry for travellers in Tulasi Thota. The British moved their garrison from Srirangapatnam to Bangalore in 1831, establishing the Bangalore Cantonment. The officer in charge of the city was known as Huzoor Shirastedar. Sir Mark Cubbon, commissioner of the city from 1834-1861, was responsible for introducing Kannada as the official language and for sanctioning the construction of roads and bridges, as well as setting up the telegraph system in the city .
The South Parade and MG Road are important social and cultural hallmarks of the Bangalore Cantonment
The South Parade and MG Road are important social and cultural hallmarks of the Bangalore Cantonment

The South Parade, today known as MG Road, became a fashionable area with bars, and restaurants. In his book Bangalore: Scenes from an Indian City, M. N. Srinivas opines that the reasons leading to the haphazzard development of narrow, winding roads around the civilan areas around the cantonment was because the British chose to ignore the development of these areas, which were normally reserved for non-European labourers. The first railway lines between Bangalore and Jolarpet were laid in 1864 under the directives of Cubbon. His successor, Lewan Bentham Bowring (1862-1870) established the first organised law enforcement units in the city as well the sewerage system and the department of Survey and Settlement. In 1862, the Town Municipality of Bangalore was constituted under Act No. XXVI of 1850. The municipality board, comprising two European officials, four local officials and two non-officials met biweekly to discuss matters on the city's sanitation and improvement. The jurisdiction of the municipality included Balepet, Manavarthpet and Halsurpet. The first project of the municipality was the construction of a moat around the ramparts of the old Bangalore fort. In 1866, the municipality installed kerosene lamps on principal streets. A parallel municipality was established in the Bangalore Cantonment in 1862 with Rs. 37,509. The jurisdiction of the cantonment municipality included the Ulsoor division, Southern division, East General Bazaar division, West General Bazaar division, Cleveland Town division and High Ground division. Though the Banagalore town and the Cantonment had separate municipal bodies, they both reported to the President of Bangalore Town Municipality. Despite the establishment of municipal bodies, civic infrastructure in the city did not see considerable improvement. Uncovered drains, some between 10 feet deep by 6 feet wide, were common in the town. Contractors of the municipality subordinated farmers for the removal of filth in the cantonment, which they in turn, used as manure. The efficacy of this agreement was minimal during agricultural seasons. Contractors engaged in building construction employing more than 10 labourers, were required to maintain a latrine for their use and clean it daily.

The bubonic plague of 1897-98 had a dramatic effect on the improvements of sanitation and health facilities. Telephone lines were laid to help coordinate anti-plague operations. To prevent the spread of the epidemic, several unsanitary houses were demolished, and with a lack of manpower to accomplish the demolitions, convicts from the Central Jail were requisitioned . In 1892, the Western extension was formed in the city and sites measuring 30 ft. by 108 ft. were sold, by community. This extension was later named Chamarajendrapet. A similar extension was formed in the north of the city, called Sheshadripuram, after Diwam Sheshadri Iyer. The relieve the city of congestion, two new extensions, Malleswaram and Basavanagudi were formed. New roads were constructed linking the new localities and wards of the city during this time. The Avenue Road, so called because of being lined by trees on either side, was the commercial hub of the city. The B.V.K. Iyengar Road was constructed as a direct tributary of the Mysore Road. The Silver Jubilee park near K.R. Market was laid to commemorate the silver jubilee of the accession of the king of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV in 1927. The road on one side of the park was named Silver Jubilee road and Narasimharaja Road on the other. Anand Rao Circle was laid in honour of the Mysore Diwan, while Sajjan Rao Circle was named after a philanthropist. In August 1948, the Governor General of India, C. Rajagopalachari inaugurated the Jayanagar extension, named after the last ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, Jayachamrajendra Wodeyar. On July 3, 1949, the industrial suburb of the city was inaugurated by the Maharajah of Myosore and named Rajajinagar . In 1905, Banagalore became the first city in India to be electrified, powered by the hydroelectric plant in Shivanasamudra.

Development after independence
The Lady Curzon Hospital, now known as Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital was established in 1864 and named after the first Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.
The Lady Curzon Hospital, now known as Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital was established in 1864 and named after the first Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.

After Indian independence in 1947, the two municipalities of the cantonment and Bangalore town were united under the Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act LXIX (1949) to form a single municipality for the city — the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC). The new corporation consisted of 50 wards and 75 councillors. The first elections to the BCC under adult franchise were held in December 1950, with Congress party candidate R. Anantharaman elected as first mayor of independent Bangalore. The needs of a growing city led to the rapid growth of civic bodies in the city. The BDA Act of 1976 reconstituted and reorganized the City Improvement Trust Board to form the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), whose objective was to ensure proper planning and development of the metropolitan area . Bangalore's city layout today has various types of "growth poles" , consisting of Markets — K.R. Market, Malleshwaram, Magadi Road, Ulsoor and others, Commercial Centres — Gandhi Bazaar, MG Road, Brigade Road, Commercial streets among others, Industrial layouts — Electronics City, Bharat Electronics Limited layout and HAL Layout, and other socio-economic precursors — Hospitals (Mallya, Bowring and Lady Curson, Vanivilas) and areas of religious and ethnic concentration.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) was constituted in 1964 to supply water to the city and to provide for the disposal of sewage. The Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) was formed in 1957. Losses in revenues through the mid 1980s and 1990s prompted the Karnataka Legislature to pass the Karnataka Electricity Reforms Act in 1999, which corporatised the KEB into the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), with the distribution of Bangalore division vested with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), which caters to 2.1 million customers in the Bangalore metropolitan area. To cater to the electricity needs of a growing population, BESCOM has sought to commission 11 additional 66/11 KV substations. Over 4,000 distribution transformer centres were added. One survey indicates that 94% of citizens were satisfied with BESCOM's performance. However, Bangalore continues to experience residential and industrial power outages ("load shedding") for as long as 2 to 4 hours a day, while its contemporaries such as Chennai and Hyderabad remain largely free of such outages .

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) was separated from the parent Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation through private sector investment , first making a profit of Rs. 267 million (US$ 5.6 million in 2001-2002. As of 2001, the company operated close to 3000 regular and Pushpak busses and services 2.8 million customers daily. The Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), a private-public partnership enterprise, was established during the S. M. Krishna administration to coordinate civic improvement and development activities with the BDA and BMP. The BATF, along with other civic bodies identified ten junctions and roads for upgrade and improvement, including the Bannerghatta Ring Road junction, Toll gate junction and the Airport Inner Ring Road Junction.

Under the leadership of Sir Mirza Ismail, Diwan of Mysore, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector undertaking was established in Bangalore for the purposes of research and development of fighter aircraft in the 1940s. The HAL operated an airport for test-flights. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) obtained a small piece of land, known as Civil Enclave for the construction of a civil airport terminal in the HAL airport for handling peak-hour traffic of 300 passengers. By 1991, peak-hour traffic to Bangalore had increased to 1,800 passengers, making HAL the fourth busiest airport in the country by 2004 . When a tender was issued in 1991 by the Government of Karnataka for the construction of the Bangalore International Airport, HAL decided to discontinue civil aviation service [1]. This led to a prolonged three way tussle for operational ownership between the HAL, the Government of Karnataka. Construction of the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) was repeatedly delayed due to a lack of agreement between successive administrations and the private consortium over operational ownership of the international airport and the status of HAL airport upon the completion of construction of the international airport [1]. Clearance for the construction of the US$ 288 million airport was eventually granted in June 2004. The major stakeholders of this project include Siemens, Zurich Airport, Larsen and Tubro consortium, Airports Authority of India and Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation. Construction work on the airport began in March 2005.
A Bangalore Mahanagara Palike sign on the Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore. The road was converted into a one-way system to ease traffic congestion.
A Bangalore Mahanagara Palike sign on the Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore. The road was converted into a one-way system to ease traffic congestion.

Bangalore's road network exceeds 3,000 km (1,800 mi) and consists of ring roads, arterial roads, sub-arterial roads and residential streets. The city road network is mainly radial, converging in the centre. The main roads of Bangalore coming into the city include Bellary Road in the north, Tumkur Road and Mysore Road in the west, Kanakpura Road and Hosur Road in the south and Airport Road and Old Madras Road in the east . Many of Bangalore's erstwhile colonial and town streets were developed into commercial and entertainment areas after independence. The B.V.K Iyengar Road became the retail hub of Bangalore, while MG Road, Commercial Street and Brigade Road became important shopping, recreation and corporate areas . Consequently, traffic increased exponentially, especially on MG Road, which forms the main artery for the city's east-west traffic. But for MG Road, other roads in and around the erstwhile Parade Ground remain narrow, winding roads. Bangalore's vehicular traffic has increased manifold, with 1.6 million registered vehiles in the city — the second highest for an Indian city, after New Delhi . The maintenance and construction of roads to address the growing traffic in the city has been a challenge to the BDA and the BMP. Development of the city road infrastructure has revolved around imposing one-way traffic in certain areas, improving traffic flow in junctions, constructing ring roads, bridges, floyers and other grade separators. Six high volume junctions were identified for improvements, through a private public partnership involving corporate sponsors and various state government agencies, such as the Siddapur Road and Hosur Road junction, sponsored by Infosys and the Airport Road and Intermediate Ring Road junction sponsored by the TATAs. Flyovers were constructed in the city to ease traffic congestion. Newer flyovers were planned for the city for 2006 and beyond [2] The construction of flyovers near the Domlur sector was delayed twice while the flyover near the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology on Bannerghatta Road was also delayed [3] .
The dramatic growth of Bangalore over the course of the last decade has led to severe traffic congestion problems in the city.
The dramatic growth of Bangalore over the course of the last decade has led to severe traffic congestion problems in the city.

Some of the flyovers and one-ways mitigated the traffic situation moderately, however the volume of traffic continues to grow at an annual rate of between 7-10%. Roads near Airport Road and the residential areas in Koramangala were dug up for renovation but have remained in this state for over two years [4]. The Outer Ring Road was initially constructed to ease truck congestion in the city, however the growth of suburbs reduced the positive impact of the ring road [5]. Bangalore Development Authority is laying additional lanes on many of the major roads around Bangalore. The Peripheral Ring Road, expected to be completed in 2007, is designed to be [6] concentric to the Outer Ring Road and covers 108.9 km. The Hosur Road, which connects Bangalore to the Electronics City, is heavily congested and is part of the National Highway (NH7), therefore witnesses heavy truck traffic as well [7].

Rapid population growth in Bangalore was brought about by the IT and other associated industries, leding to an increase in the vehicular population to about 1.5 million, with an annual growth rate of 7-10% [8]. Bangalore's infrastructural woes have led to protests by students and IT workers in the city [9]. In July 2004 Wipro's CEO Azim Premji threatened to pull his company out of the city unless there was a drastic improvement in infrastructure over the next few years, stating "We do not see the situation (state of Bangalore's infrastructure) improving in the near future" [10]. Ideological clashes between the city's IT moguls, who demand an addressal of the infrastructural problems of the city, and the successive state governments, whose electoral base is primarily rural Karnataka's agricultural workers, are common [11] In 2005, however, the Central and State Governments allocated sizeable funding from their annual budgets towards the improvement of Bangalore's infrastructure.
Gurgaon, the millennium city, was recognized as a potential destination for investors after the liberalization of the Indian economy post 1990s due to its proximity to New Delhi and smart policy initiatives of the Haryana government. Today, skyscrapers and modern shopping malls dot the new city, which has seen a major real estate boom since the late 1990's.

Major infrastructural developments:
The upcoming eight lane toll expressway between Gurgaon and New Delhi, scheduled to become operational in April 2007 which will provide non-stop connectivity to the International Airport and Dhaula Kuan in Delhi over a distance of 28 kilometers (18 miles) and includes 7 flyovers and 5 underpasses along the stretch.

Special Economic Zone
The Haryana government is establishing a special economic zone at Garhi Harsaru in New Gurgaon, about 25 km from the international airport in Delhi, adjoining NH-8 and the state highway between Gurgaon and Pataudi. The SEZ would be spread across 3,000 acres and would cost an estimated Rs 948 crore to build. About 2,400 units are slated to come up in the zone, providing employment to over 60,000 workers and generating exports of around Rs 42,000 crore.

A Gems & Jewellery Park Complex at Udyog Vihar is also in the Governments list of initiatives for promoting this sector as this has been identified as an industry having good potential for infrastructural development. The Government is also contemplating seeking SEZ status for the Gems and Jewellery Park. Besides that, an Apparel Park is also proposed to be developed in Gurgaon SEZ under the "Apparel Parks for Exports" Scheme of the Government of India.

The HUDA and Gurgaon administration have geared up in putting their best efforts for developing the infrastructure of Gurgaon as they say Gurgaon is on the verge of becoming a separate 'SEZ country'. The administration has also initiated some steps for improving power and water supply in Gurgaon. From food parks to housing complexes and special economic zones to express highways, the city of Gurgaon is the true reflection of modern India.
Greater Noida has contemporary, efficient, and comprehensive infrastructure comprising of industrial, residential, recreational and commercial areas. Greater Noida has been planned on the grid iron concept and employs state-of-the-art technology in engineering and urban planning and architecture. Unlike many other cities in India, infrastructure facilities well precede Greater Noida’s development and inhabitation. Emphasis has been laid on developing Greater Noida as a green heaven, free from pollution.

Greater Noida offers several advantages to industries in terms of connectivity and infrastructure. Key among these are:

* 50 minutes from New Delhi Railway Station and 55 minutes from I.G.I. Airport
* Supply of basic amenities planned to exceed demand
* Reliable power distribution
* Optical fibre has been laid to provide broadband connectivity of 650 MBPS through 4 service operators.
* 24 x 7 water supply and abundant sweet ground water
* 60-105-metre wide road network
* Underground electric cabling and drainage system
* Pollution free environment
* Scientifically planned sector layout
* The U.P. Development Council has provided many concessions in various fields in the IT Policy of UP
Noida is a highly integrated township, offering facilities for all activities: Industrial, Commercial and Residential. However, in line with the Master Plan 2011 and to keep in pace with the growing needs of the township, the Authority has been planning and implementing many projects which will cater to the varied requirements of the inhabitants.

Apart from the above many projects are being implemented to improve the quality of life and daily routine of the inhabitants as well as the daily migrant population. Details on the projects and the status of their implementation is available on this web site. To read about the development projects currently underway in Noida please read the following:

The city of the future also boasts of an unparalleled infrastructure. The Master Plan envisages systemic development to enhance the quality of industrial as well as social life. Hardly surprising that it has emerged as a hot favourite of industrialists, professionals and entrepreneurs. Noida is a highly integrated township, offering facilities for all activities: Industrial, Commercial and Residential.

To understand the quality of facilities available in Noida and the development projects currentlyunderway please read the following:

Infrastructural is an on-going process, especially for a township that is developing as fast as Noida is. Accordingly, many projects and new development schemes are planned, launched and implemented frequently. To obtain a bird-eye view to the new development activities and schemes in Noida, please read the " New Projects " page.

Upcoming Infrastructure Activities:

CNG :

To reduce pollution in the city of NOIDA the city has decided to setup CNG plants over the town. CNG would be provided to all sectors of the city (i.e. Industrial, Commercial, Domestic, Transportation etc.). The NOC to distribute the gas has been given to Consortium of Adani Group. Who are committed to fulfill the implementation by 2nd half of the year 2006.

Wi-fi:

As you are aware that NOIDA and Greater NOIDA are fast developing into Hubs for IT enabled Industry. In order to give fillip to this sector and also to take IT to the masses, NOIDA and Greater NOIDA Authorities plan to introduce Wi-fi capability in the entire area of the twin cities. This would entail making all Schools, Colleges, Institutions, Hospitals, Hotels, Malls and other business establishment as also NOIDA-Greater NOIDA Expressway Wi-fi enabled so as to provide complete wireless network facilities to student and professionals in the NOIDA/Greater NOIDA areas. The introduction of Wi-fi capabilities in the Educational and other establishments will give them a quantum jump in term of brand equity and functional capability as far as use of computer in concerned. Not more than 8-10 cities in the world have this capability and it would be a unique achievement for the twin cities of NOIDA and Greater NOIDA.

ISO:

The city of NOIDA has approached QMI India Ltd. for acquiring ISO 9001:2000 and EMS ISO 14001:2004 for the city for which the process is on. By March next year the town would be as per the quality standards of ISO 9001:2000 which would help NOIDA to have an International image on the global platform.

Disaster Management Plan:

As we know NOIDA is developing at a very tremendous speed and very soon it would be India's one of the most developing city in all aspects. NOIDA falls in seismic zone IV. We need to take step to protect our developing infrastructure before any natural calamity on Disaster strikes the town. Therefore, NOIDA has approached National Institute for the city so as the city can protect its lives and infrastructure to the best of its capability and minimal loss. The Disaster Management Plan shall include different cycles of Disaster Management i.e. pre-disaster prevention & mitigation measures during disaster response, evacuation, shelter and relief measures and post disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction measures.
As Delhi moves ahead from snail-paced traffic hit roads to the fast lanes, the coming up of sprawling malls in the city has also given a new dimension to the shopping and entertainment lifestyle. Delhi with its trend setting achievements is now termed as the most happening city as it moves to transform itself from the WALLED CITY to the WORLD CITY Target 2010.

* Delhi in the next few years will boast of significantly improved road and transport infrastructure (a six-lane section of National Highway 8 connecting Delhi and Gurgaon is already functional).
* Bids have been sought for the privatisation of the Delhi airport and with FDI in the sector, are expected to bring in big investments.
* Delhi infrastructure is going to have major revamping as the city gears up to become a world class venue for the Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi in 2010.
* The current 65 km-long Delhi Metro Rail’s expansion plan calls for more than 400km lines to crisscross the city and extend to the suburbs of Noida and Gurgaon before the 2010 Commonwealth Games are held in the capital. Besides providing convenience of traveling within the city, Metro rail also offers better connectivity with the satellite twin cities of Gurgaon and Noida.
* With large scale investments in the IT and ITES sector favored by congenial infrastructure and skilled manpower, Delhi is going to be the ultimate destinations for MNCs and Corporates.
* The hospitality industry in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) is stated to undergo a major revamping as the city has to host business tourist from across the globe in the face of large scale investments. The NCR is expected to see an estimated 27 new hotels, serviced apartments and mixed-use developments with approximately 4,900 rooms in various categories over the next three to four years.
* Delhi which boasts of impressive infrastructure-malls, commercial spaces, leisure spaces; is expected to have close to a hundred Malls by the year 2010.

Delhi because of its strategic location and impressive infrastructure for investments has also developed into a hot market for real estate investments as it is hyped as a promised land for opportunities for investors and professionals alike. And with job opportunities abounding and burgeoning disposable incomes, luxury residential spaces are the new flavor to this segment.
The city of Delhi has grown at an enormous pace in the last 10 years. A Business Standard study establishes this quite convincingly.

To begin with, it points out that the city's population has grown by more than 50 per cent during the last 10 years to the current population level of over 1.6 crore (16 million).

This growth -- estimated at around 3.8 per cent per annum during the 1990s compared to the annual growth rate of 1.9 per cent for the whole country -- is primarily attributed to the large-scale migration the city has seen in the last decade. As a result, the rise in the density of population in the capital city of India has also been very rapid.

Today, it is more than 10,000 persons per sq km in Delhi, compared to about 7,000 persons 10 years ago. Now, that is a growth, which can really stretch the social and economic infrastructure of any city to its limits.

For instance, Chandigarh had a population density of 5,632 persons in 1991 compared to Delhi's 6,352. In 2001, Chandigarh's population density went up 40 per cent to 7,903, while Delhi's saw a much higher increase to 9,294.

Delhi has also witnessed a qualitative change in its consumption pattern, which is in line with a sharp drop in the number of people below the poverty line.

Against 15 per cent in 1994, the number of persons living below the poverty line today has declined to a little more than 8 per cent today. It is equally true that this period also saw a rapid rise in the number of urban rich in Delhi.

The number of credit cards registered in the capital city went up by 62 per cent to 11 lakh (1.1 million), the number of airline passengers, arriving or departing from the city, increased by 73 per cent to 28,500 per day and the number of liquefied petroleum gas connections went up from 865,000 in 1991 to 36 lakh (3.6 million) in 2004.

There are other equally significant pointers to Delhi's growing prosperity. Delhi has over 32 lakh mobile phone users, far in excess of its total fixed telephone line connections estimated at 24 lakh (2.4 million). Delhi is perhaps the only city that can take such credit.

In 1994, television companies sold only 154,000 sets in the capital. Ten years later, their annual sales of TV sets have gone up to 525,000 sets. The number of hotels has also seen a sharp rise in this period -- up from 50 in 1994 to 72 today.

The good news of Delhi's growing prosperity, however, stops here. Take a closer look at some other numbers, you will realise why Delhi's infrastructure is so overburdened and the quality of life has deteriorated so rapidly over the last few years.

For instance, the total length of roads in Delhi increased to 28,500 km by 2001-02. Mind you, this was only 15 per cent more than the 24,645 km of roads that were available to vehicular traffic in the capital in 1994.

True, the average length of roads per 100 sq km (1,922 km) is still way above the national average. But the additional pressure Delhi's roads had to withstand in this period has to be seen to be believed.

In the last 10 years, the population of cars in Delhi has more than doubled to 11.56 lakh (1.15 million) in 2004. The number of buses has also nearly doubled to 53,000 in this period. The rate of growth of other vehicles that ply on the roads has been even higher than those witnessed for cars and buses.

In other words, Delhi's civic administrators have merrily pumped in more buses and Delhi's residents have started driving more cars and other private vehicles, making the roads more congested and the environment more polluted than ever.

It is only in the last few years that the authorities have realised the urgent need for a mass rapid transport system and the Delhi Metro will hopefully improve the conditions when its first phase is completed by 2005.

Take a look at another key infrastructure area -- water. In 1994, there were 10.98 lakh (1.09 million) water connections provided by the civic authorities. Ten years later, the number of such connections has grown by just 3 per cent.

What about water supply through the city's piped network? That was worse. Total water supply in the capital in 2002-03 was estimated at 9,942 lakh kilolitres, compared to 9,855 lakh kilolitres in 1996-97.

So, how did the rising population of Delhi meet its water requirements? There are no figures. But more and more residents of Delhi are now using ground water to meet their basic requirements. The bottled water companies are doing roaring business as the civic authorities have failed to meet the water needs of the city.
There is no doubt that Delhi is a prosperous city. But take a closer look at its basic infrastructure like transport and water, you will realise that in spite of so many positive indicators of growth and prosperity, the city is facing an inevitable decline.
The real estate story in India is growing bigger by the day. Industry experts believe that Indian real estate has huge demand potential in almost every sector -- especially commercial, residential and retail.

Growth in commercial office space requirement is led by the burgeoning outsourcing and information technology (IT) industry. By 2010, the IT sector alone is expected to require 150 million sq.ft. of space across major cities. It is estimated that in the residential sector there is a housing shortage of 19.4 million units out of which 6.7 million are in urban India. The increase in purchasing power and exposure to organised retail formats has redefined the consumption pattern. As a result, retail projects have been mushrooming across even B-grade cities. The retail market is expected to grow at around 35 per cent. Industry observers feel that this growth is facilitated by favourable demographics, increasing purchasing power, existence of customer-friendly banks and housing finance companies, professionalism in real estate and reforms initiated by the Government to attract global investors.

Global majors in Indian real estate

Policy changes introduced by the Government in February 2005 allowed 100 per cent foreign investments in construction projects with fast-track approvals. But the real attraction for foreign investors is potential investment returns of 25 per cent and more in Indian projects that might be hard to come by in the US and in Western Europe today. A report by property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle estimates that US$ 10 billion foreign investment will be injected into the Indian real estate sector in the next 12-18 months. International companies like Ayala of the Philippines, Signature from Dubai, Och-Ziff Capital, EurIndia and Old Lane have indicated their interest in entering the Indian real estate market soon. On the cards is sizeable FDI inflow from Malaysia, followed by the UK, US, Israel and Singapore.

Industry sources say over 90 foreign investors are already in the country tapping investment avenues. Nearly two dozen US funds are raising US$ 3.5 billion for investments in Indian realty. Those raising the funds include Wall Street powerhouses such as the Blackstone Group (US$ 1 billion) Goldman Sachs (US$ 1 billion), Citigroup Property Investors (US$ 125 million), Morgan Stanley (US$ 70 million) and GE Commercial Finance Real Estate (US$ 63 million). Others raising funds are JP Morgan, Warburg Pincus, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Colony Capital and Starwood Capital.

In mid-2007, Morgan Stanley closed a deal worth about US$ 150 million with Oberoi Constructions in Mumbai. The Nakheel Group in Dubai entered into a US$ 10 billion deal with DLF for residential projects in Tier I and II cities. This was followed by three financial institutions -- Khaleej Finance and Investment (KFI) from Bahrain, Kuwait Investment Company (KIC) and Kuwait Finance House (KFH) -- from the Middle East promoting a US$ 200 million fund for investing in India. Called the 'Indian Private Equity Fund', it targets activities with controlled risks in growing sectors like real estate. Close on its heels, California Public Employees’ Retirement System entered India, investing US$ 100 million in a US$ 400-million real estate fund promoted by IL&FS. Ascendas, Asia’s leading business space provider is launching the first property trust of Indian assets worth US$ 500 million in Singapore in July 2007 with the renowned real estate developer Embassy Group.

Financial institutions in real estate

Indian financial institutions are competing with each other to invest in this higher return segment. Some of the prominent companies promoting real estate funds in India are HDFC Property Fund, DHFL Venture Capital Fund, Kotak Mahindra Realty Fund, Kshitij Venture Capital Fund (a group venture of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd) and ICICI’s real estate fund, India Advantage Fund. Regulated under SEBI’s (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Venture Capital Funds, these are closed-ended schemes with an initial public offer (IPO) contributing to a discount on NAVs (Net Asset Value).

The Tata group has joined hands with private equity firm, Xander, through its group company Trent in April 2007 to raise US$ 1 billion for an institutional retail real estate fund. India's top real-estate firm DLF has raised US$ 2.24 billion in the country's largest initial public offering in June 2007. It has also entered into a joint venture agreement with Indian pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy group company Fortis Healthcare to set up hospitals across the country with investments of about US$ 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, an HDFC-sponsored real estate fund has been permitted to bring up to US$ 790 million of FDI into the country, while Indiabulls Real Estate (IREL) is looking to raise up to US$ 1.2 billion.

Retailers and malls

India has emerged as the most attractive destination for retailers in 2007. According to the latest AT Kearney study, for the third year in a row, India leads the annual list of most attractive emerging markets for retail investment followed by Russia and China.

Organised retail, which currently accounts for only 4.6 per cent of the US$ 270 billion Indian retail sector, is expected to grow at 37 per cent in 2007 and 42 per cent in 2008, according to India Retail Report 2007. The report adds that organised retail in India has the potential to add over US$ 45 billion business by the year 2010.

This is expected to create a demand for around 220 million square feet of retail space by 2010. According to industry estimates, 27 million square feet of organised retail space is currently available. Another 90 million square feet is expected to be added by 2008 from 263 mall projects. Of these, 18 million square feet is slated to come up in Delhi as well as in Mumbai, 9.5 million square feet in Ludhiana, 6 million square feet in Chandigarh and 3.6 million square feet in Ahmedabad.

With the retail sector experiencing a boom, the country is witnessing a spurt in extremely large retail spaces. Shopping malls with over 1 million sq ft of space have become the order of the day. About 20 of these are now at various stages of construction across the country. In the National Capital Region (NCR), Unitech's Great India Place has a million square feet (sq ft) of retail space. In Mumbai, at least eight malls covering over 1 million sq ft each include R-Mall at Ghatkopar, and two 1 million sq feet plus malls proposed for Thane. In Bangalore, at least three malls with similar dimensions are under development. Ludhiana will soon have a 1.6-million sq ft mall by As the competition in the market intensifies, builders are going out of their way to be different. Specialised malls, designer brands and multi-movie options are marking the shopper's day out. Gurgaon, on the suburbs of New Delhi, has a jewellery mall and will soon have an auto mall. Bangalore will get an exclusive furniture mall. Two malls, first of their kind, targeting foreign tourists, will come up at tourist hotspots--Goa and Udaipur--with a projected cost of around US$ 22 million each. A furnishings mall is coming up on Elgin road in Kolkata. And India's largest theme amusement park, Noida Entertainment City (E-City), will stand upon 150 acres approximately. Discount malls are also on the rise. Top realtors and local retail chains are developing malls in regional boroughs, specifically to sell premium branded goods at prices 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than the maximum retail price. At least 50 discount malls are expected to come up in the next two years across the country, positioned in the middle-to-the-premium end of the market.

In what could perhaps become a trend in the booming retail business, Reliance Retail, Future Group and Bharti-WalMart are among leading retail companies that are acquiring housing societies and colonies in Ahmedabad to knock down and build mega-retail stores.

Big deals in realty

The biggest mall of the world--Mall of India--planned by DLF Universal along NH-8--will have 32 acres spanning a huge entertainment area and large city town squares offering a total retail experience.

Chennai, on the radar of foreign real estate funds, recently witnessed two big-ticket property deals. AIG Real Estate Fund and RMZ Corporation purchased an 11-acre plot at Guindy for US$ 686.9 milion and Shyam Kothari, in another deal, bought IDBI's 2.5 acres Boat Club property in Chennai for US$ 40.3 million.

Residential development

Majority of retailers are now planning to expand within the current city, and a similar percentage is willing to open new stores in other cities within India. The most confident among them are home and interior retailers and sports apparel/equipment retailers, followed by department stores and jewellery and food retails.

While the last decade saw the transition of sleepy towns like Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad into enviable addresses, today these tier I towns, as they are called, are saturated and far beyond the means of the middle class. Naturally, the opportunity in the residential development in Tier-II and Tier-III cities--like Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai, Coimbatore and Pune--is equally enormous.

For instance, Pune, the engineering and automobile hub of western India--about 160-km south-east of Mumbai--is emerging as a major IT centre. With sprawling software parks coming up all over the city and its suburbs, the demand for high-value apartments is growing. Beyond professionals and people looking to relocate from Mumbai or even overseas, are the older people who have sold a bungalow and want to live in spacious, easy-to-manage surroundings. Developers maintain that the bar for the super-premium luxury housing has risen from US$ 231,964 to over US$ 463,929 per unit.

If the year 2006 was marked by some of the country's biggest land deals, the future of India is set to usher in the gold rush of realty.
India has a large and fairly well developed infrastructure framework extending to all parts of the country. However, certain areas like power, telecommunications, transport etc. need further expansion and modernization. And, the public sector alone can no longer fully finance the requirements.

The six core and infrastructure industries, viz., electricity, crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, steel and cement, having a weight of 26.7 per cent in overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP) achieved 6.8 per cent during 2000-01. Several fiscal incentives were announced by the government for boosting investment in infrastructure projects. Ten-year tax holiday offered to projects in core sectors like roads, highways, waterways, water supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems can now be availed of during the initial 20 years. Projects in airports, ports, inland ports, industrial parks and generation and distribution of power can now avail of 10-year tax holidays during the initial 15 years. The facility of five-year tax holiday available to the telecommunication sector till 31 March, 2000 was reintroduced for units commencing their operations on or before 31 March, 2003. The concessions were extended to internet service providers and broadband networks. Tax incentives were made available to investors providing long-term finance to enterprises engaged in infrastructure. The Electricity Bill 2001 and the Communication Convergence Bill 2001 were introduced in Parliament.

Power: The generation of power has increased impressively in recent years. In 1990-91, India generated 6.6 billion kilowatt hour of electricity; in 1995-96 the figure was 380.1 billion kilowatt hour. The installed capacity, which was 1400 MW at Independence in 1947, has crossed 83,288 MW. The policy of inviting private sector has been well received; about 140 offers that can generate over 60,000 MW of power have came in.

Coal: Coal is the primary source for power generation in India. The country has huge reserves of coal, approximately 197 billion tonnes. A sufficient amount of lignite (brown coal used in thermal power stations) is also available.

India produced about 270 million tonnes of coal in 1995-96. The government now welcomes private investment in the coal sector, allowing companies to operate captive mines.

Petroleum and Natural Gas: The recent exploration and production activities in the country have led to a dramatic increase in the output of oil. The country currently produces 35 million tonnes of crude oil, two-thirds of which is from offshore areas, and imports another 27 million tonnes. Refinery production in terms of crude throughput of the existing refineries is about 54 million tonnes.

Natural gas production has also increased substantially in recent years, with the country producing over 22,000 million cubic metres. Natural gas is rapidly becoming an important source of energy and feedstock for major industries. By the end of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, production was likely to reach 30 billion cubic metres.

Railways: With a total route length of 63,000 km and a fleet of 7,000 passenger and 4,000 goods trains, the Indian Railways is the second largest network in the world. It carries more than 4,000 million passengers per year and transports over 382 million tonnes of freight every year. It is well equipped to meet its demands for locomotives, coaches and other components. Lately, the Railways have launched a massive gauge-conversion drive as about a third of the track is metre or narrow gauge. With improvement in tracks, plans are afoot to introduce faster trains. Very soon, certain prestigious long-distance trains will be running at 160 km per hour. The Railways have also started a scheme to privatise several services that will include maintenance of railway stations, meals, drinking water and cleaning of trains.

Road Transport: The roadways have grown rapidly in independent India. Ranging from the cross-country link of the national highways to the roads in the deepest interiors, the country has a road network of 2.1 million km. India also manufactures most of its motorised vehicles: cars, jeeps, trucks, vans, buses and a wide range of two-wheelers of various capacities. While Indian scooters have established a good foreign market, the car industry is also looking up with several foreign companies setting up plants in India.

Shipping: The natural advantage of a vast coastline requires India to use sea transport for the bulk of cargo transport. Following the policy of liberalisation, the Indian shipping industry, major ports, as also national highways and water transport have been thrown open to the private sector.

Shipping activity is buoyant and the number of ships registered under the Indian flag has reached 471. The average age of the shipping fleet in India is 13 years, compared to 17 years of the international shipping fleet. India is also among the few countries that offer fair and free competition to all shipping companies for obtaining cargo. There is no cargo reservation policy in India.

Aviation: India has an aviation infrastructure which caters to every aspect of this industry. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is India's gigantic aeronautical organisation and one of the major aerospace complexes in the world.

India's international carrier, Air-India, is well known for its quality service spanning the world. Within the country, five international airports and more than 88 other airports are linked by Indian Airlines. Vayudoot, an intermediate feeder airline, already links more than 80 stations with its fleet of turbo prop aircraft and it plans to build and expand its network to over 140 airports in the far-flung and remote areas of the country. Pawan Hans, a helicopter service, provides services in difficult terrains.

The Government has adopted a liberal civil aviation policy with a view to improving domestic services. Many private airlines are already operating in the country.

Pipelines: Oil and natural gas pipelines form an important transportation network in the country. The country completed recently, on schedule, one of its most ambitious projects, the 1,700 km Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline. Costing nearly Rs. 17 billion, the pipeline transports liquid gas from the South Bassein offshore field off Mumbai to Jagdishpur and Aonla, deep in the mainland in Uttar Pradesh. Besides, India has nearly 7,000 km of pipeline mainly for the transportation of crude oil and its products.

Telecommunications: With rapid advances in technology, India now uses digital technology in telecommunications, which derives advantage from its ability to interface with computers. The present strategy focuses on a balanced growth of the network, rapid modernisation, a quantum jump in key technologies, increased productivity, and innovations in organisation and management. Moving towards self-reliance, besides establishing indigenous R&D in digital technology, India has established manufacturing capabilities in both the Government and private sectors.

The private sector is expected to play a major role in the future growth of telephone services in India after the opening of the economy. The recent growth in telecommunications has also been impressive. Till September 1996, the number of telephone connections had reached 126.1 lakh (12.6 million). Soon every village panchayat will have a telephone. By 1997, cellular services in most major urban areas were functional, and telephone connections were available on demand. India is linked to most parts of the world by e-mail and the Internet.

he 1998-99 Budget announced by the BJP government has given a major thrust to infrastructure development, particularly in energy and power, transport and communications, by stepping up public expenditure in these sectors. This increased government spending on infrastructure is expected to boost India's sluggish economy. The lack of a clear policy frame work for private sector participation has hampered the badly-needed infrastructure development, particularly in telecommunications, power, roads and ports. The public sector, which led the investment in infrastructure development until recently, has reduced its investments considerably, due primarily to its poor fiscal position.

IDFC:

The Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), established in 1997, is a specialized financial institution, set up to provide credit enhancement to infrastructure projects, and to extend long term loans and guarantees that existing institutions may not be able to provide. IDFC provides loans and guarantees worth dols 17million to five projects.

The Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation are shareholders in the IDFC. A comprehensive funding package for infrastructure projects has been developed by the IDFC and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). At the state level, the PFC is primarily focussed on public sector projects, while the IDFC concentrates on the private sector. In the recent budget, the government proposed giving IDFC incentives and benefits available to other public financial institutions.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram proposed in the federal budget major spending on big-ticket infrastructure items like highways, metro rail networks, ports, airports, power and telecommunications.

"The importance of infrastructure for rapid economic development cannot be overstated. The most glaring deficit in India is the infrastructure deficit," Chidambaram told Parliament.

"The thrust on India's infrastructure is pragmatic," said Indraneil Borkakoty, vice president of ICICI Securities. "It will boost employment, investment and growth."

"Road building across India will ... provide employment and boost the bottomlines of cement, steel and brick manufacturing firms," Sunil Munjal, head of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said.

India's economy is powering ahead, with the government forecasting growth of 6.9 pct in the year to March 31 2005, making it the second-fastest expanding economy after China.

But improving India's potholed highways, congested ports and erratic telecommunications and blackout-plagued power service, is vital to drawing foreign investment and bolstering the economy further, economists say.

The government has said it needs to spend 150 bln usd over the next five years to develop world-class infrastructure -- 75 bln usd in the power sector, 25 bln usd in telecommunications and 50 bln usd in airports, seaports and roads.

In his budget for the year to March 2006, Chidambaram gave no overall figure on the amount of infrastructure spending for the coming year.

But he reeled off a series of projects worth 6.2 bln usd covering highways, electricity and telecommunications.

Fearful of widening the government's already stubbornly high fiscal deficit, Chidambaram said that the government will dip into India's brimming foreign exchange reserves, now running at a record 133 bln usd, to fund other big infrastructure projects.

"There are large infrastructure projects that are financially viable but have difficulties in raising resources," said Chidambaram.

He said these projects will be funded by a new "special financial vehicle" that would tap India's foreign exchange reserves. He did not say how much he would take from the foreign exchange reserves but set a cap of 2.3 bln usd or 100 bln rupees for the coming financial year.

Chidamabaram also pledged a "massive programme" to provide electricity to 125,000 villages. "I have provided 11 billion rupees for this programme," said Chidambaram.

Another 12 bln rupees has been set aside for more village public telephones and strengthening the country's telecommunications'' backbone.

A 55-bln-rupee fund also has been set up to improve congested transport facilities and power infrastructure in seven Indian cities.