Hyderabad features prominently in Major Infra projects among South Metros
There is a paradigm shift in destinations that attract corporate infrastructure investments in India. Corporate infrastructure investors have taken a liking for the southern metros namely Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai ahead of other illustrious metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The southern Tier-I cities have acquired the highest chunk of the private investment share in infrastructure projects. Some of the corporate investors who have invested in mega infrastructure projects in the southern metros are Tata Realty and Infrastructure, L & T Infrastructure, GMR Infrastructure, GVR Infra Projects etc.
In stark contrast to the 30% total private investments in infrastructure projects that Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata accounted for, their southern counterparts accounted for a whopping 70% of such projects. In monetary figures, the southern metros accounted for private investments to the tune of Rs. 33,161 crore in infra projects compared to the Rs. 14,240 crore private investments in other Tier-I cities. Hyderabad was the main attraction among the southern metros with private investments amounting to Rs. 13,800 crores. Chennai accounted for investments of Rs. 9,730 crores and Bangalore, Rs 9,630 crores.
It has been seen that in the last six months, twelve real estate projects have been announced by the private sector in these southern metros. The total value of these projects amounts to Rs. 12,990 crores. Among the twelve projects, Bangalore garnered as many as six projects, while Hyderabad had five, and Chennai, one. Besides infra projects, Special Economic Zones(SEZs) accounted for the second highest investments in these three cities. Many corporate sector players have been lured by the three metros to develop SEZs with as much as Rs. 12,150 crores being devoted for the development of five SEZs with a 36% share in total private infrastructure in the southern metros.
Much of the impetus for this spurt in private infra investments can be attributed to the increase in business travel as well as due to the southern metros being portrayed as “must see” tourist destinations. As a result, considerable investments have been made in hospitality projects in these metros. Hotel projects being a major draw among the business visitors as well as pleasure tourists, as many as three hotel projects are being planned by major hotel companies, which would amount to Rs. 5,375 crore. Besides, two major power projects are also being planned in Chennai to the tune of Rs.1,415 crores.
Reasons for turning south:
There are various reasons that can be attributed for investors turning southward. It is generally felt that the southern metro cities are less urbanised and less populated compared to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The combined urban population in the three southern metros will add to about 16 million. This is in comparison to the 18 million urban population in Mumbai, 18.7 million in Delhi and 15 million in Kolkata.
Besides, some of the other important factors that have resulted in luring investors to the south metros are better state government policies towards investments, availability of relevant talent due to the presence of many prestigious engineering and business institutes, high literacy rates due to the presence of educated and learned people, and also due to rising per capita incomes, due to the presence of many multinational companies employing educated and experienced personnel.
