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Infra Soft
L' Accor (d) Sofitel
International hotel chain plans Mumbai flagship
Accor Hotels announced a flagship Sofitel - - the Sofitel
Mumbai, India. The hotel is a joint venture between Shree
Naman Hotels Pvt Ltd, an associate company of Naman Developers
Ltd, and Accor. The $ 106 million hotel development will feature
311 rooms and is scheduled for completion in 2009. The Sofitel
Mumbai will be in the Bandra- Kurla Complex and will feature
signature architecture and design by Brennan Beer Gorman,
Architects from New York. The Sofitel Mumbai have a full range
of guestrooms and suites, an all-day restaurant, specialty
restaurant, lounge bar, grand ballroom, meeting rooms, health
club and spa. The group anticipates developing a network of
100 hotels in India over the next decade.
Bose Corp plans tier-II push in India
The $ 2 billion US-based electronics acoustics major, Bose
Corporation plans to make India its third largest market outside
the US. Japan is its second largest market. Bose Corporation
India plans to be in Tier II cities, including Jaipur, Chandigarh,
Ludhiana, Pune and Cochin, in the next six months, apart from
new stores in Delhi and Mumbai.
Lankan group to set up SEZ in AP
The Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings, a textile and apparel group,
will set up an exclusive special economic zone for textiles
and apparel in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The 750-acre
SEZ is expected to bring in investments of $ 200 million.
The $ 700 million company runs 35 factories in Sri Lanka,
India, China, Indonesia and Mexico. A memorandum of understanding
has been signed with the state government for the SEZ.
S Kumars to open 60 Delmonte stores
S Kumars Nationwide (SKNL), which launched Delmonte, its
economy brand of readymade trousers, shirts, ties, suits and
jackets, targeted at executives in their early twenties, has
set aside Rs 15 crore as advertising budget for the next year.
The company will open 60 exclusive Delmonte stores and the
brand will also be present in 1,000 multibrand outlets all
over India by November 2007. It targets a modest Rs 50 crore
sale by then. SKNL does not underestimate the fierce competition
in the selected market segment from John Player, Peter England
and Excalibur. SKNL will source the products from its apparel
facilities in Bangalore, which in turn will source the fabrics
from its own textile mill in Mumbai.
ACTION ZONE
ITC expands veggie chain
Diversified conglomerate ITC will expand its fruit and vegetable
retail and wholesale business by opening 54 new outlets in
select metros in the next three years. At present, it operates
only in Hyderabad and Pune.
Space Hospitals draws up expansion plans
Chennai-based telemedicine service provider, Space Hospitals
Ltd, is expanding its services by setting up 500 satellite
medical centres, 800 telemedicine centres, and 40 more hospitals
in the next one year across India. By the end March 2007,
the company plans to establish 126 telemedicine centres, 38
satellite medical centres and 10 regional associate hospitals.
The company will also launch 10 mobile telemedicine units
in the next one year.
Piramyd to open more TruMarts
Upbeat about its TruMart experiment at the Piramyd Megastore
in Nagpur, the Piramal-controlled group has opened two more
TruMart outlets in the city and plans to open 10 more by February
2007.The stores offer everything under the food, home and
personal care segments¸including fresh fruits and vegetables.
Reliance ADAG's Zapak plans 600 gaming cafes
Anil Ambani-owned Reliance ADA group will open over 600 gaming
cafes across the country in the next 2 to 3 years and target
about 50 million subscribers by 2010 under its subsidiary,
Zapak Digital Entertainment. For this, the company plans to
invest Rs 450 crore in the next three years. The cafes will
have capacities of 10-50 seats.
Wipro in Jaipur
Following Infosys' announcement of investing Rs 400 crore
in Mahindra World City, Jaipur, Wipro Technologies too has
unveiled a proposal to set up a campus there. It has signed
a memorandum of understanding for 100 acres of land in the
SEZ.
Akruti Nirman ties up with DLF for IT park
Real estate developer Akruti Nirman has tied up with India's
largest real estate company DLF for setting up a massive IT
park at Hinjewadi, Pune. The park will be built on five million
sq ft. The first phase of the project, covering 1.2 million
sq ft, will cost about Rs 183 crore.
Ocimum to invest Rs 120 cr for expansion
Ocimum Biosolutions will invest Rs 120 crore in its biotechnology
expansion and set up a new laboratory in the Genome Valley
on the outskirts of Hyderabad soon. The Hyderabadbased life
sciences research and development enabling company, which
recently acquired the BioMolecules Synthesis division of Isogen
Life Science of the Netherlands, has raised $ 6.5 million
in equity and debt from the International Finance Corporation.
The funds are being used for the acquisition and setting up
the lab.
Big Bazar planning 60 more outlets
Pantaloon Retail is planning to set up 60 new outlets in
eight months. As part of this plan, it is looking to establish
100 Big Bazaars this year according to Rohit Malhotra, its
southern operations head. The company has 40 outlets with
10 Big Bazaars in south. It is planning to invest an average
of Rs 15 crore on each outlet.
Karnataka to develop aerospace SEZ
Karnataka is looking to develop its aerospace industry through
a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). State authorities are about
to submit a proposal to create an aerospace and aircraft components
manufacturing cluster at Devanahalli for maintenance, operation
and servicing of aircrafts to the Centre. Airlines like Lufthansa
have shown interest because of unprecedented growth in the
aviation sector in the country. About 900 acres will be acquired
for the purpose for which preliminary notification has already
been issued
Emami in retail
FMCG major Emami group is looking for a new overseas partner
for its entry into the retail industry. The group has outlined
plans to open seven stores over the next 18 months across
Kolkata and the whole of eastern region. The total investment
is in the vicinity of 40 crore. The stores will operate under
the name and style of 'Starmark'. The speciality stores will
cover an area of up to 10,000 sq ft.
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