Rising Realty Star

Kochi is rated as one of the country’s most dynamic 30 tier-III cities in terms of business environment and real estate opportunities. A highly mature emerging destination in Kerala, it is rapidly transforming itself into a key IT/ITeS hub, attracting many pan-India developers.

Judged by Jones Long LaSalle’s India Real Estate Market maturity Index, which marked the cities on the basis of realty market transparency and overall volumes of activity in office, retail and hotel segments, Kochi has been positioned ahead of Nashik, Jaipur and Mangalore, while it vies for the first place with Chandigarh.

Growth drivers

The parameters of Kochi’s growth, besides information technology, are housing and infrastructure although tourism remains a traditional and dependable revenue earner. The IT/ITeS boom is the product of cheap real estate price, sound communications, low labour costs and low attrition rates. The bigwigs operating here include Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Kochi’s economic growth has naturally been a welcome signal for banks and insurance firms eager to serve the increasing population, corporate clients and non-resident Keralites. Citibank, HSBC, ICICI and Standard Chartered have set up outlets. Meanwhile, the all-season port, well linked with the rest of India, is embarking on a $2.4 billion modernization project. Air connectivity is excellent : 2.5 million passengers used this airport --- the first one to be built on greenfield PPP basis --- in 2006-07, making it the seventh busiest airport in India. Internet-wise, Kochi has an enviable status, having both SAFE and SEAME-WE3 optical submarine telecommunications cables. Speaking about special economic zones, in which it is a pioneer, two new technology SEZs, Infopark and SmartCity, will be completed shortly in the Kakkanad suburb. All these factors constitute the pillars of Kochi’s infrastructure.

Source: www.realtyplusmag.com