TE Connectivity going ahead with expansion despite labour woes

Deutsch is a provider of connectivity solutions for harsh environment applications. The company has invested close to Rs 600 crore in India. Last October, another investment of Rs 300 crore was announced for a new manufacturing facility.

TE has five manufacturing plants in Bangalore and two in Pune. Despite labour issues, the company is continuing with its expansion plans.

“We are constructing an integrated manufacturing plant at the Aerospace Park, Yelahanka in Bangalore, which is expected to be operational by 2014,” said Handu.

At the new plant in Bangalore, he said, TE would design and manufacture next-generation connectivity solutions for multiple industry verticals including automotive, aerospace, defence and marine.

Karnataka eyes for $7 bn investment in aerospace sector

Karnataka government expects an investment of about $6-7 billion during next four to five years in aerospace sector that is coming up around Devanahalli International Airport.

"Let me make it very clear in the next 4 to 5 years we are expecting an investment of about USD 6 to 7 billion in the aerospace sector that is coming around International Airport. This will be the first aerospace park in the country," Principal Secretary - Commerce and Industry Government of Karnataka MN Vidyashankar said.

Karnataka was the first state to announce the aerospace policy in the country, he said at an event of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He also said that state is taking steps to meet the requirements of water and power in this area.

"Devanahalli area is coming out to be a major hub for knowledge based industries, as water is an issue in this area we are taking around 60 million liters of tertiary treated water. There is IT investment region, Software Park and Aerospace Park coming up in the region."

Illustrating on the other major investment projects coming up in the state Vidyashankar said Kolar and surrounding region is being developed as auto and auto auxiliary hub. "As Kolar is a dry area we will be supplying 60 million liters of tertiary treated water by drawing waste water from a place called Bellendur in Bangalore," he said.

According to Vidyashankar, the plan is to spread manufacturing plants across north and central Karnataka and depute knowledge based industries in and around Bangalore.

In the north Karnataka region there is a large engine making plant coming up in Kittur, being developed by an automobile giant with an investment of 10,000 crore, he said. "In addition to engine making plant there will be about 45 to 50 vendors coming up around the same place to supply spare parts for them. So we are expecting an investment of around 15 - 20 thousand crores in the next two to three years time around Belgaum, Hubli and Dharwad region," he added.

There is also a proposal from a large oil company to set up India's biggest refinery in Mangalore who are in requirement of 2,000 acre area, with an intention to investment 36,000 crore and generate 13-14 thousand employment opportunity. "The issue is about environment clearances considering Mangalore being a coastal area, talks are on to look at other alternatives as well," he said.

He added that there is also a proposal to set up leather cluster in Kanakapura region. Stating that there are investment enquiries from several foreign countries he said "Taiwan is looking for an investment in hardware sector in partnership with local companies, Israel is looking at R&D in aerospace sector."

Mayor of San Francisco will be in Bangalore with his delegation of investors by the end of this year, with key are of interest being investment in R&D sector, software sector, startup segment, he added.

Vidyashankar said as part of 2013-14 budget, government has come up with three major initiatives one being separate allocation for promoting R&D, secondly a major venture capital initiative in manufacturing sector and last one being cross border entrepreneurship to support startups.

Honda opens plant in Kolar for 2-wheelers

Auto And Ancillary Facility To Employ 8,500 People 

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI),a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company,Japan,has opened its third manufacturing facility in the country at Narsapura Industrial Area in the Kolar district of Karnataka,at an investment of Rs 1,350 crore.

This is the companys first manufacturing facility in the south,and for Bangalore this is the second Japanese auto manufacturer to open shop,the first being Toyota in the late 1990s.

Seventeen vendor partners of HMSI have invested an additional Rs 1,700 crore in the Narsapura Industrial Area.The total job creation between the vendors and the manufacturing facility is expected to be 8,500.HMSIs facility has the capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum,which the company will ramp up to 18 lakh units by the end of this calendar year.Initially,the facility will manufacture two of the companys popular brands -- Dream Yuga and Activa.Production of the Dream Yuga will commence in June followed by the Activa.

Through this third facility HMSI increases its annual production capacity in India by 64% to 46 lakh units per annum.The companys two other manufacturing units -- at Manesar in Haryana and Tapukara in Rajasthan -- have a combined production capacity of 28 lakh units.

In the fiscal year ended March,the company sold 27.55 lakh units,a 31% growth over the previous year.The overall industry reported growth of just 2.4%.Keita Muramatsu,president & CEO of HMSI,said that with the third facility,the company would touch a sales figure of 39.3 lakh units at the end of the ongoing fiscal,a 41% growth.

The expanded production capacity will be supported by aggressive growth in the sales network to 2,500 outlets and rapid new product introductions as we aim for market leadership, added Muramatsu.Earlier this year HMSI overtook Bajaj Auto to become the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer by volume in India.Hero MotoCorp is the largest

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In the current fiscal year,Hondas global two-wheeler sales growth is expected to increase more than the previous years and is headed to new heights because of its operations in India, said Yoshiyuki Matsumoto,managing officer,Honda Motor Co.He added that India was one of the most important markets for Hondas overall business.

Matsumoto said that out of the total 4,500 jobs at the new facility,nearly 90% were being offered to local youth.

RIDING IN 

Mass production of Dream Yuga,in the 100-110 cc motorcycle segment,will commence in June at the Kolar facility This will be followed by production of Activa Bangalore has the highest market demand for two-wheelers among all cities in India,says Honda Government spending Rs 190 crore in getting 60 million litres of water to the three industrial clusters of Narsapura,Malur,and Vemgal in Kolar district by June next year.

Blackstone scans realty market for investment

Private equity giant Blackstone, which manages assets worth $210 billion globally, is upping the ante in the Indian property mart. The firm, which has invested $1 billion in the country's commercial and residential assets in just two years, is again on the prowl for investment targets. 

On the table are two properties - the Express Towers in Mumbai and the Mantri Mall in Bangalore - both of which are valued at under Rs 1,000 crore each, said multiple sources aware of Blackstone's real estate play. While Blackstone has its India head office located on the fifth floor of Express Towers and has a bird's eye view of what's on offer, a detailed due diligence was carried out on Mantri Mall a couple of months back. 

Sources cited earlier told TOI that Blackstone has put the Mantri deal on simmer as it is working on a possible structured debt transaction through its NBFC arm to invest in the 1.7 million sq ft mall, which has been in operation for three years. If the Mantri deal does go through, it would be Blackstone's maiden retail real estate play in India. 

Sources told TOI that while senior executives of Blackstone have been presented with a brochure on Express Towers, toplevel executives from Embassy Office Parks are planning to go to Mumbai to get a walk-through of the 25-storey building, which has a built up area of approximately 4 lakh sq ft. 

ICICI Ventures and Viveck Goenka, CMD of the Indian Express Group, jointly own the four-decade-old Express Towers along with a clutch of smaller investors . The property, which has a commanding view of the Arabian Sea, has a reserve price of Rs 850 crore, said one of the sources mentioned earlier. 

Blackstone and Mantri Developers declined to comment, when contacted, while ICICI Ventures MD and CEO Vishakha Mulye couldn't be reached for a comment on the Express Towers deal. Real estate consultant Jones Lang Lasalle India , who was mandated by ICICI Ventures to seek out buyers, also declined to comment.

Sahara acquires 25-acre plot in Bangalore for Rs 149 Crore

The Sahara Group has acquired a 25-acre plot in Bangalore's information technology hub Whitefield, originally owned by the television and white goods maker BPL, for Rs 149 crore, and plans to build offices and a hotel there. 

The real estate to retail conglomerate Sahara has bought the plot of land from the Asset Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil), which had picked it up under the SARFAESI Act from a clutch of banks and financial Institutions after BPL defaulted on its debt payments a few years ago. 

Sahara confirmed the transaction. "The assets have been acquired from Arcil and will be utilised as per the main objects of the company. The payments were made as per the terms of bidding process and till date we have paid Rs 100 crore," Abhijit Sarkar, head of corporate communications for the group, said. 

Arcil did not respond to an email sent by Media. 

The land was owned by two BPL group companies, BS Appliances and BS Refrigerators. Arcil acquired this property under SARFAESI Act from various banks and financial Institutions after BPL defaulted on its debts payment. 

According to the terms of the bid, this land in Whitefield can only be used for a commercial development. Sahara is planning to build a mixed-used commercial building here which will have a hotel and an office tower, said sources, who did not want to be named. 

Sahara, however, did not specify the kind of development it is planning. 

The tender document floated by Arcil quoted a reserve price for the two land parcels owned by BS Appliances and BS Refrigerators at 39 crore and 55 crore, respectively. It mentioned that the successful bidder would have to pay dues of around 49.37 crore to the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board to get the sale deed and also clear labour dues. 

Sahara's group companies Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Investment Corp were recently under the spotlight with the market regulator Sebi charging them for illegalities in raising funds.

RMZ Ecoworld leases office space to Honeywell for Rs 58 crore annually in Bangalore

Global technology firm Honeywell Technology Solutions (HTS) is taking up a million sq ft of office space in Bangalore, making it the second-biggest office leasing deal in the country in the last two years. At 48 per sq ft, Honeywell Technology Solutions will pay an annual rental of close to Rs 58 crore for the office space in RMZ's special economic zone, RMZ Ecoworld, people familiar with the transaction said. 

A spokesperson for Honeywell confirmed the transaction but did not give any details. "As we continue to be locally invested, we were looking at efficiencies and co-location synergies to enable better optimisation and productivity opportunities," the spokesperson said in an emailed response. 

Bangalore-headquartered HTS is the captive technology and engineering facility of the $37-billion US firm Honeywell International. 

In terms of space, its deal with RMZ, which was handled by property consultant CBRE, is the second largest in the country's office space segment in the last two years after Goldman Sachs took up 1.6 million sq ft in the city a year ago. 

According to people familiar with the matter, HTS will use close to 5 lakh sq ft of the space for consolidating its existing offices in the city while the rest will be used for business expansion. 

"Our plans are in line with long-term direction and strategy and will be taken up in a phased approach," the HTS spokesperson said. 

The 50-acre RMZ Ecoworld, earlier known as Adarsh Tech Park, was picked up recently by RMZ and Baring Private Equity Partners for Rs 1,000 crore. In it, RMZ got 1.4 million sq ft of built and leased space and rights to build another 6 million sq ft of office space on the land parcel on the outer ring road in Bangalore. 

People close to the development said HTS had been in talks with RMZ and Mantri Developers for office space as it wanted to move out of its office at Kalyani Tech Park in south Bangalore in view of the upcoming metro rail work there. HTS decided to go with RMZ because it already has space in the SEZ, which was earlier run by Adarsh Developers. 

The deal is good news for the domestic commercial office business, which is showing sign of revival after remaining depressed for a year. Businesses hired more office space in the first quarter of 2013 compared with a year ago, according to CBRE. 

Data provided by two property advisors last month showed office space absorption had dropped from about 35 million sq ft in 2011 to 26 million sq ft in 2012. Leasing of office space is widely seen as an indicator of business sentiment in a country.

Alstom to strengthen Bangalore R&D centre

Alstom Transport is transforming its engineering facility in Bangalore into a global research and development centre.

The company is part of the Euro 20 billion,Parisbased Alstom,a global leader in transport infrastructure,power generation and electrical grids.

Alstom Transport develops and markets a range of systems,equipment and services for the Indian railway sector,some of which include providing signalling systems for the Delhi and Bangalore metro rail totalling 100 kilometers,building metro rail coaches for the Chennai metro,and designing Linke Holfmann Busch coaches for the Shatabdi and Rajdhani.

Alstom Transports Bangalore engineering team of 300 people is engaged in application and product engineering for the companys signalling projects in Europe and in Asia.This centre will be expanded to include a new team focused on research,engineering,and development of coaches,beginning next fiscal.

Henri Poupart-Lafarge,president,Alstom Transport,who was in Bangalore,said that the company planned to increase the headcount at its Bangalore centre to 550 by the end of fiscal 2014.

We will add another 150 engineers for the signalling part and would grow the coaches division by 100 people a year, said Lafarge.

The Bangalore centre will initially focus on developing various systems and sub systems for coaches,both for the Indian and global markets.Over the next four to five years the company expects the centre to reach a level of competence to design and develop a complete coach.

Lafarge added that the company would also increase the headcount at its manufacturing facility in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh to 200 from 120 at present.

The manufacturing unit,established with an investment of Euro 30 million,will manufacture metro rail coaches for the Chennai metro.

Over the next one-year,bids for a host of rail projects that include expansion of the Delhi and Bangalore metros,and initiation of the Ahmedabad and Cochin metros are expected.

There is huge potential in the rail transportation business in India.The country has a large number of cities growing because of urbanization,which today are not equipped with metro connectivity, said Lafarge.