Real-Estate Blog

The phenomenon of software Technology Park has made revelation in the field of IT and Indian economy has highly benefited by them. The young Indian work forces for IT and IT enabled services (ITes) are an asset for the development of the nation. However, to accelerate the economic growth of the whole nation, more small cities in India need to come to the core and important infrastructure like software technology parks need to be developed to provide more opportunities for the educated youths from non-metro cities.  The software technology parks are suitable place for establishing small and medium enterprises and investors too get more benefit form these types of infrastructure projects.

The STP is an autonomous body in India and governed by the department of Information technology. Indian software industry needs a proper infrastructure and other facilities to run their business successfully. The technology parks provide that infrastructures and facilities like 24 hr electricity and high speed data communication services to run a business without any difficulties.  

So these facilities are just like value added services for corporate houses who want to set up their new offices in various locations. They can easily provide their services for project management and consultancy services. IT based industrial real estate companies are getting many benefits from the STP phenomenon. Any business building located in a software technology park area is a best place for small and medium enterprises. They need comparatively less investment to develop their own infrastructures and a new entrepreneur can easily setup his new office in adjoining area. An office located in an STP area gets more value added services then an office located in any other commercial area. The land for this industry located in any STP is also not too costly in India. Only thing we need - the availability of high quality manpower for the industry. Other infrastructural facilities such as Broadband, VoIP and Electricity make any business center located more resourceful than others. The young energetic entrepreneurs who want their start-ups based on technology like those facilities to start their company in a technology park area. The software technology parks are helpful to fulfill their requirements. On the other hand it is easier to get permission by real estate developers to get the permission to develop office buildings. The state governments allow real estate developers to help those small IT industry owners regarding office buildup and high scale growth with the help of economic investment in the real estate. The governments also arrange high quality security arrangements for those companies. This also reduces the costing of the office security system.   

Kolkata is known as the city of joy and the city has a long tradition since the British colonial age.  Once it even used to be the capital of India and now is a place of choice to live in for many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). Now Kolkata is an international destination in South–East Asia and daily flights connect it with various other international destinations. Highly developed industrial nations are connecting to Kolkata for out-sourcing their business.  If you are not in India you can also chose Kolkata as a business destination. The city is always celebrating all kinds of national and international festivals with great aplomb. The real tastes of Indian or Bengali dishes are the special attraction of the city. You can find many more reasons to live in Kolkata. The only reason that makes us worried about living in this city is the security threat in urban living. Suburban living in the newly developed residential places is not fully secured. Many unusual happenings are recorded in the local newspapers about robbery and murders due to low quality security system. Mainly retired people build their dream houses in the Salt Lake and Rajarhat area using their salary savings. They want a peaceful life after their retirements. The New tradition of Nuclear family doesn’t allow all family members to live together in the same house. As a result old people live in those economic flats. These days however, real estates developers are paying more attention on security matters.

The building security system is getting more importance in the recent times. Experts in the building security system are working on different security projects to protect the people who are living in those newly developed residential areas. Using arm guard for home security is nothing new in urban India. They are used to keep the house safe and it is a very old tradition in Kolkata too. The advancement in computer technology and electronics has made some special home security equipments available in the market to keep you house safe. All this has changed the whole course of home security system. The close circuit camera or CCTV helps to store the video recording of every person who is visiting the complex. The footage of close circuit camera is sometime helpful for tracking the criminals. Yet their usage in developed residential complexes has not been proliferate. But now real estates developers in Kolkata are taking to the CC TV Home security system because it is safer. It is easy to monitor every corner of a complex from a single control room using the close circuit cameras. The shopping malls are already using CCTV to keep their store safe.  Now, it is going to be more popular in apartments for too.

For long, many Indians, especially dwellers in big cities have been suffering from sick building syndrome – “a combination of ailments associated with place of work or residence.” But it seems finally developers have woken up and are looking for ways to go green with buildings designs- be in commercial or residential sector. Green buildings – by design try to make the environment inside healthier and better utilization of resources thus making it less stressful on human.

This trend is keeping with what is going on at the global level where scientists and environmentalists are concerned about “invironment” – a new terminology that refers to the quality of air indoor and its effects on health. According to American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Airconditioning Engineers (ashrae)– indoor air quality should provide up to 80% comfort level to people who are exposed to it. According to study figures – American business looses $60 billion every year due to less productivity caused by sick building syndrome. A green building can be termed so only if it meets certain strict parameters set by international leaders in the field like Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED). LEED-India along with the directorate of energy efficiency of the Indian central government are the authorities in India who can certify a green building. According to their criteria – a green building must perform well in the field of sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection and indoor environment quality.

And no surprise who is leading this silent revolution in India– it’s the all powerful and cash rich IT industry. With exponential growth of the IT sector and IT enabled services; there is huge demand for ultra modern, sophisticated and eco-friendly office spaces through out the country.

“Green buildings will be a way of life. The sick building syndrome is a common ailment that affects productivity. IT companies around which bulk of the real estate development is going to take place in the city are willing to pay Rs. 5 to Rs.10 a sqft to ensure optimal environment for their employees to enhance productivity.”

said Pradeep Chopra, managing director of PS Group in Kolkata (Calcutta).

With Calcutta set to add 2 million sqft in infotech infrastructure alone, Chopra is right on target as his company is developing the PS Regent IT Park- a 16 storey building that would be a green building once approved by the authorities concerned.

A few years back, a number of multinational Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, after taking into account India as a base for their operations, finally decided on cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune due to the lack of quality space in the Metros. This trend is fast changing with the entry of national developers and local developers, who are gearing up to meet the potential demand for space from IT companies which is expected to be nearly 2.5 million sq.ft./year.

The metros still need to offer quality ready-built space and developed land, targeting technology and outsourcing companies of different sizes. Over the last two years more than 95 percent of the space absorbed has been by the IT and BPO sectors in major Cities. This is an extremely healthy situation given the fact that the quality of buildings in the metro like Kolkata is still not up to international standards. A number of local, national and international developers are expected to aggressively pitch for this land. Developers of IT real estate space need to realize future trends from an occupier perspective, which includes a more strategic approach to real estate, ongoing search for more flexible solutions, greater focus on security and environmental issues, and global or regional input for decision making. Most international occupiers would favor to lease space as this would involve minimum capital commitment, maximum flexibility, easier exit strategy, and real estate being kept off the balance sheet. A leading foreign developer who has successfully completed projects in Bangalore and Hyderabad has commenced work on an IT Park other states also. Different state governments on their part have also contributed to the improvement of quality office real estate supply. They need to look at reclassifying and allotting land at competitive rates to local, national and international developers to create mixed use facilities. The demands on prices, escalating costs and dwindling profits is forcing IT companies in metros to set up operations in tier-two cities. As competition increases, it will become tricky for developers offering only built-to-suit space solutions to attract IT and BPO companies to their projects.