Tata Group may raise $1-bn realty,infra fund

The Tata Group hopes to close a $1 billion infrastructure fund by the end of the year as it lines up plans to make heavy investments...

The Tata Group hopes to close a $1 billion infrastructure fund by the end of the year as it lines up plans to make heavy investments in the countrys high potential infrastructure and real estate sectors. The fund opened in mid-2008,but has only recently seen strong interest from Asian and European investors,with firm commitments for about a quarter of the total.

Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited (TRIL) has announced its plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in real estate and infrastructure projects over the next three years. Of this,about Rs 11,000 crore would be made in the real estate sector alone which includes development of Special Economic Zones and other realty projects. TRIL is currently working on a residential and mixed use development on a 35 acre plot at Gurgaon,a 25 acre SEZ at Chennai and an IT SEZ each at Ahmedabad and Hinjewadi in Pune. To fund its upcoming realty projects,the company has raised an offshore fund of $700 million.

On the infrastructure front,the company will invest Rs 5000 crore on roads and Rs 4000 crore on other infrastructure. In addition,it will also bid for Monorail and Metro projects and redevelopment of bus terminals in tier two cities. We have assessed our land parcels all over the country. Tata companies like Voltas have land in and around Mumbai. We will look at unlocking all these and redeveloping it at the right time, said Sanjay Ubale,director and chief executive officer of Tata Realty and Infrastructure. He added that TRIL has already submitted its bid for redevelopment of railway stations in Navi Mumbai.

There will be two monorail projects in Delhi,three in Mumbai and one in Bangalore. We will be bidding for all, said Ubale. Meanwhile the companys residential project at Boisar,touted as the Nano Housing project,has received 5,500 applications for 1,000 flats. About 16,000 forms were sold out for the project where small-sized homes costing between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh will be allotted to interested buyers on lottery basis. Brotin Banerjee,MD and CEO of Tata Housing,said the group will launch a similar project in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in another six months. About 15% to 20% of the total projects by Tata Housing,will be in the below-Rs 10 lakh slab,similar to the Shubh Griha project at Boisar. There also would be affordable housing projects in the price range of below Rs 35 lakh in addition to the premium houses, said Banerjee.

(With agencies)