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Newsmakers
A ‘Tall’ Idea
Life can be full of contradictions. One never know what turn
it might take. When Amar Nath Shroff, Founder and Chairman,
Diamond Group, graduated in Law from the Patna University,
he too must have been unaware that a decade later he will
be known as one of the most successful builders in India.
But life did take a turn for Shroff in 1982 when he entered
the real estate business after ten years of practice in the
Kolkata High Court. His first job was that of a promoter and
developer of assignments. He formed Diamond Group in 2004
with a consortium of eminent personalities and entrepreneurs
of Kolkata. The group has till today constructed over five
million sq ft of landmark residential and commercial complexes
like Siddhartha, Surya Kiran, etc. Now it is embarking on
another conquest by constructing the tallest tower in Kolkata.
The 54-storey tower over the Chowringhee skyline, will house
10 levels of car parking at the base and a helipad on top.
It will have many firsts, like a 4.2 m floor-to-ceiling height,
a grand entrance lobby 42 ft high, a sky garden on the 29th
level, restaurants on the 50th and 51st floors, three levels
of viewing galleries and a programmed illumination system
to project varied façade views at different times during
the night, showing a brilliant blue streak along the spine
at 2 am. Being built with a capital of more than Rs 630 crore,
the tower is sure to herald a new beginning for metropolitan
Kolkata.
A Futurist Builder
Anil Aggarwal, Chairman, RNA Corp, is often heralded as a
crusader of modernism in the otherwise traditional construction
industry. His innovative strategies have helped in making
each of his projects into a landmark, which stands testimony
to the strong bond of trust and confidence that it enjoys
with its customers. He is currently developing a mass housing
project in Chembur, Mumbai, that will provide homes to more
than 1,950 tenants. One of the unique features of the project
is that the company will issue a fixed corpus to each member
of society, thus resulting in zero maintenance cost to them.
Additionally, the group will also help the tenants during
the transit period by providing them with the cost towards
brokerage for rental accommodation, the rentals and shifting
charges.
Silent Prodigy
Diametrically different from his stepbrother Ratan Tata, Noel
Tata, Managing Director, Trent Ltd, is the shy yet determined
entrepreneur behind highly successful Westside apparel chain
and Star Bazaar hypermarkets. One of most low-profile entrepreneurs
of the Tata Group, Tata is also the most grounded. He likes
to drive at a moderate speed on the Mumbai-Pune highway unlike
Ratan Tata, who loves flying supersonic jets. The same philosophy
is evident in the slow and steady manner in which he has built
his business. He emphasises not only on conducting a careful
research before launching a store, but on also using the Westside
brand name for 90 per cent of its product range. This increases
the profit margin of the company and offers a unique option
to consumers, thus giving Westside an edge over its competitors.
A smart manager with apt business sense, Tata has the unique
ability to do the right thing at the right time, a trait that
he recently displayed by signing an agreement with UK's largest
retailer Tesco to develop its discount hypermarket format.
According to the agreement, Tesco will provide its retail
expertise and technical capability to Trent, who will open
11 new Westside stores, six Landmark stores and 50 new Star
Bazaars with an investment of Rs 2,050 crore within a year.
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