Citi arm takes 40% in BPTP

New Delhi :- Property investment division of Citibank has invested one hundred sixty million dollar in real estate major BPTP. earlier Citibank Property Investment (CPI) had invested eighty million dollar in the company to take 5.89 per cent stake. The hottest investment will be made in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of BPTP, which is executingfour SEZs in the national capital region. According to a source, CPI will acquire 40% stake in the SPV.

The SPV is applying IT specific SEZs at Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon. The Noida SEZ is being developed on 25 acre of land, Greater Noida on 100 acre, Faridabad on 54 acre and Gurgaon on 27 acre of land. In the first phase, the company will develop six million square feet in the four SEZs by 2010. The total area to be developed in the four SEZs is 20 million square feet.

All four SEZs have got the approval of the government and land has been acquired. The money raised by the SPV will fund the project.

The government rejected to extend the tax benefit for software technology parks after March 31, 2009, IT SEZs have become popular amongst the export oriented units. The developer of SEZ will get tax concessions not only on profit, but also on all inputs required for the project.

The deal reveals that the real estate tale in the country is still shining and the investors are prepared to put money, provided the project is at the implementation stage, said a banker. He said if India maintains an eight per cent growth, it will require enormous real estate supply.