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Software product-specific SEZs to come up near Hyderabad |
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The Andhra Pradesh government
has announced plans to create two software product-specific
special economic zones (SEZs) near Hyderabad.
Of the two SEZs, one would come up at Pappalguda
village in a 200-acre land owned by the Hyderabad
Urban Development Authority (Huda) and the other
would be located near the international airport
at Shamshabad where part of the 1,200-acre land
is in possession of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial
Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).
This apart- another 2,500 acres under the 5,000-acre
land, being acquired by APIIC in the same vicinity,
will be earmarked for allotment to ICT industry,
both software and hardware, in the second phase.
The development of these SEZs
will primarily be led by private investors and
developers who would undertake international class
and scale of infrastructure development. Apart
from the central incentives available for SEZs,
the state government would also extend a set of
incentives and facilities to the developers and
the units. According to government press releases,
the area incorporated in the proposed SEZ is free
from environmental pollution.
Companies like Google, Sanota, Intelli Asia, Celestica,
Patni Computers, DQ Entertainment, Knoah Solutions,
Boston Consulting Group, Vorizon and Qualcomm,
which already employ more than 1,000 people each
and also intend to expand their operations by
investing not less than Rs 50 crore ( US$ 12 mn),
are in the waiting list for land allotment.
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| India’s
smaller towns attracting bigger stores |
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| The retail
boom in India is reaching a feverish pitch with
retail giants and hypermarkets now looking beyond
the metro cities, at smaller cities such as Mysore,
Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam.
Made popular
in metros by stores like Big Bazaar, hypermarkets
aim to provide a complete shopping experience to
India's burgeoning middle class in Tier II cities
by selling groceries, clothing, consumer durables
and foodstuff in the same shop space.
There are over
100 tier II cities in the country and people there
certainly have money to spend. The mentality of
people in smaller cities is also completely different.
Unlike in metros, where youngsters come to malls
to hang-around, hypermarkets in small cities are
destinations for families who have a fixed agenda
of buying something.
Siri Mahamart,
an Andhra Pradesh based company is ceasing this
opportunity in a big way. The company opened a Hypermarket
under its flagship name Magna in Vijaywada in August
2005. Magna has announced plans of spending Rs 30
crore (US$ 7mn) on setting up stores in Hyderabad
and Vishakapatnam by end FY2005-06. The total floor
space of all stores will be 1.5 lakh square feet.
Magna also plans to spend Rs 50 crore (US $ 11.5mn)
in expanding to towns in Maharashtra, Karnataka
and in the outskirts of Delhi in FY2006-07. The
company has ambitious targets of hoping to set up
about 20 hypermarkets, 30 supermarkets and 20 restaurants
across the country with a total floor space of 400000
square feet by March 2007. |
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