Nanda: Upbeat

Mumbai, March 24: The Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) group and DLF Universal Ltd today jumped into the special economic zone (SEZ) bandwagon in two separate initiatives.

While the Mahindra group joined hands with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation to set up an SEZ in Pune, DLF, the country’s largest real estate developer, is setting up an SEZ in Amritsar.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the DLF project.

The M&M SEZ in Pune, known as Mahindra World City, will be spread over 3000 acres and expected to generate an investment of over $2 billion or Rs 9,000 crore.

The group will spend close to Rs 1,100 crore to develop the SEZ where it will hold a majority stake and MIDC 26 per cent. It is learnt that M&M is not averse of roping in a third partner.

The agreement was signed by V.K. Jairath, secretary (industries), Maharashtra government, and Arun Nanda, executive director & president, infrastructure development, Mahindra group.

The state-of-the-art fully integrated business-city in the SEZ format will be located off the Mumbai-Pune highway. It will generate 75,000 jobs.

The Maharashtra project marks the group’s efforts to set up a pan-Indian SEZ network. It is already present in the south and north through Mahindra World City developments at Chennai and Jaipur.

“Establishing an SEZ in Maharashtra affirms our belief in the state and is definitely a step towards our effort to bring world-class manufacturing facilities to India. Importantly, Maharashtra offers many advantages, including access to a large reservoir of skilled and technical manpower. All of which make for the ingredients of a successful recipe for the third Mahindra World City in the country,” said Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of M&M.

Mahindra World City in Pune is expected to provide the required impetus in the form of electronic hardware manufacturing and hardware-related R&D facilities to complement the software technology strength of the state, the group said in a statement.

Towards that end, the SEZ will provide a fertile ground for high-end electronics, computer hardware manufacturing facilities, information technology and other non-polluting industries, it added.