The joint venture is called Mahindra World City Rajasthan. It will set up a 2,500-acre special economic zone.
This SEZ is expected to generate revenues of about Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion). It will also have a 500-acre domestic tariff area. Mahindra Gesco, which holds 74% in the venture, will raise money from institutional investors to fund the project.
VC, Mahindra Gesco, Arun Nanda says, "Our investment in the basic infrastructure, other than building, which we have not estimated yet, is in the region of Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion), but the building investment will be substantially higher. We just announced a few days ago that we are going to our shareholders for a resolution to raise money from qualified institutional investors."
Mahindra Gesco's partner, Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation, RIICO, has already begun to acquire land for the SEZ. MD, RIICO, Kuldeep Ranka, "This SEZ will bring in a lot of investment into the state. In the first phase, there will be an IT SEZ on 175 acres of land.
Jaipur is the third SEZ location for Mahindra & Mahindra after Chennai and Pune. Now that it is finally on the road, Mahindra Gesco just might look to develop more SEZs elsewhere in the country. Only, with SEZs pushing up land prices it will be a more expensive proposition.
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