The Mahindra & Mahindra group has tied up with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation to develop a special economic zone in the state.

MIDC on 24 March 2006 entered into a formal agreement with Mahindra Gesco, the property development arm of the M&M group, to form a joint venture that would develop a multiproduct SEZ at Karla near Pune in Maharashtra.

MIDC, which will have 26 per cent stake in the joint venture, will make a cashless equity contribution in the form of land and other facilities.

The M&M group would be investing Rs.1,100 crore in the first year for land, infrastructure and buildings. The total investment would be around Rs.2,000 crore. The SEZ would attract mainly companies in the electronics and hardware industry. A downstream investment of Rs.9,000 crore is expected by units coming up in the proposed SEZ. Once land acquisition is complete, the SEZ would take two and a half years to develop. At the end of three years thereafter, the SEZ would be fully occupied. 

Maharashtra, it may be mentioned, has cleared 26 proposals from private sector SEZ developers. Discussions with another 14 are underway, it is learnt.

M&M has already developed a special economic zone at Chennai and is developing another in Rajasthan. The Chennai SEZ, formed in collaboration with Tidco, spans 1,400 acres.

The Rajasthan SEZ is coming up on  3,000 acres of land at Jaipur. Phase I of the project, covering 600 acres, will be commissioned by May 2006. Once fully completed, the SEZ is likely to attract investments of over Rs.1,000 crore providing employment opportunities to 2.5 lakh people.

Also See:

Government clears Rs.1,00,000 crore investment in SEZs (18-Mar-06)

Mahindras plans SEZ in Pink City (07-Oct-05)