Mumbai-based realty company Neptune Group has said that it would invest about Rs10 billion in its upcoming office complex spread over two million sq ft at Kurla, a Mumbai suburb.

“Neptune has bought about 17 acres from KEC International Ltd and we will commence the project in the next three months,” said Nayan Bheda, chairman and managing director, Neptune Group.

Neptune Group is a Mumbai-based property developer. Its latest project will be one of the city’s largest high-end commercial office complexes.

According to Bheda, the firm has roped in renowned architects Foster and Partners of London to design the project. The unique feature of the building is that it is a green building and daylight will be available at each and every corner of the structure, he added. The building will be a multi-rise facility, varying from three floors to seven floors.

Foster and Partners have designed a number of major projects around the world, including the London City Hall, the Hong Kong International Airport and the Beijing Capital International Airport.

This high-end office space will be leased out to multinational companies and other corporates. The average lease/rent will be Rs 200 per sq ft. According to market sources, the company is also likely to raise money from the capital markets.

Among the Neptune Group’s other projects, the Neptune Magnet mall at Bhandup in Mumbai covering one million sq ft will be operational in six months. The group’s proposed IT Park in Thane will be operational within three months.

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Investor Interest

India Post to offer core banking services by 2011

14 October 2009

From just delivering letters and money orders to offering small saving schemes like National Savings Certificate (NSC), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and monthly income schemes (MIS), India Post is gearing up to get additional business. The postal department will start offering core banking solutions across all 500 head post offices by 2011.

Mumbai-based NV Sutar, assistant post master general (savings bank) said, “The government has issued directives to the Department of Posts to implement core banking facilities in every post office in the country. The implementation of core banking facilities will be carried out in three phases across all head post offices.”

“With this, the customers investing in small savings schemes would be able to access their accounts from any place and branch. All post offices will be interlinked through a central server and we are processing the scanned data and signature verification on a war footing,” Sutar added.

There are over 200 million savings accounts across all the post offices in India. The core banking service will enable people living in far-flung places get access to banking services anywhere through these post offices, he said.

Till now small saving deposit schemes of post offices were restricted to the welfare programme of the government. Now the Indian postal department is also looking at offering insurance in rural areas. It also plans to offer debit cards to its account holders. So far the postal department has distributed the debit cards in some parts of the country which would be extended to other post offices by end of next fiscal, Sutar said.

-Vidyut Kumar Ta [email protected]

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Public Interest

Prozone to earn Rs 40 crore-Rs 50 crore lease rental from Aurangabad mall

14 October 2009

Prozone Enterprises (P) Ltd, a retail real estate development company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Provogue India, will be earning lease rental revenue of Rs 40 crore-Rs 50 crore per year from the first mall at Aurangabad, assuming that the lease rental is between 6%-10% of total annual revenue, according to industry sources. The project is built on8,30,000 sq ft area of retail space.

According to Nikhil Vora, managing director-research, IDFC SSKI Securities Ltd, “the mall will generate Rs 500 crore-Rs 600 crore of revenue per year.”

“The handovers of the stores will commence from beginning of 2010 and the occupation in the mall will start by July 2010,” said Nikhil Chaturvedi, managing director, Prozone Enterprises (P) Ltd.

The company is planning to build 50 Prozone shopping malls with an investment of $1 billion over the next five years, said Chaturvedi. The company is developing more than 12 million sq ft of modern retail space in India, primarily in tier-II cities such as Raipur, Jaipur, Indore, Mysore and Aurangabad.

The anchor tenants (Hypercity, Shoppers Stop, Globus, Westside, and Big Cinemas) are satisfied with the structure of the mall. “The structure is built up in a unique way keeping in mind tier 2 cities. I think it should do very well in these cities,” said B S Nagesh, vice-chairman, Shoppers Stop.

The company has already sold 80% of the stores in the mall. “After the success of their project at Aurangabad, the company will be soon be coming up with malls in Indore, Jaipur and other tier-II cities,” said Mr Chaturvedi.