Infrastructure development of Indian cities: Trivandrum and Cochin

Abstract

As Indian economy experiences the boom in all sectors triggered by its economic and investment policies, the metros or the Tier I cities are the ones that are inundated with burgeoning investments in the industrial and the services sector. Along with large-scale investments has boomed the realty sector creating congestion, arising out of an increasing demand for residential and commercial properties. This congestion in realty structures has forced the respective governments and many investment companies to seek out for alternative smaller cities leading to a demand for Tier II and III cities. One of the basic reasons for investments flocking in to the smaller cities is available properties and affordable prices. Moreover, the special initiatives taken by the respective governments in providing the smaller cities with infrastructural facilities and creation of SEZs, has played a vital role in promoting these small towns into cities of the future. Keeping in view all the congenial factors necessary for setting up corporate infrastructure, the investing companies ranging from pharmaceuticals to financial institutions, automobiles to the IT and ITES sectors; to the retail and real estate sector are opting for the smaller cities transforming them in to India's fastest growing cities in a matter of few years. The large scale investments by the corporate sector in the smaller cities apart from initializing economic prosperity and job opportunities has also created demand for realty spaces. While developers from all the nearby areas flock in to cater to the real estate demands, the property markets in these smaller cities are witnessing along with a changing skyline, an unprecedented hike in real estate prices. While the realty trend in Tier I cities have reached a saturation point, with the yield gap witnessing significant margin of 9.5 to 10 per cent, the Tier II cities record a yield of 10.5 to 11.5 per cent. However, the emerging winners in the present reale state scenario of India are the Tier III cities, which offer greater yields of up to 12 percent. This rising prices and promising future of these cities are driving investors to buy properties predicting long-term gain in years to come. Recent trend also shows that due to lack of availability of business equipped infrastructure and exorbitant property prices in the existing metros, the IT, ITES and the BPO companies are vying for the smaller cities where they are promised better infrastructure, state-of the-art office spaces and also skilled manpower. A careful study of these Tier III cities reveals the close proximity of these cities, to the most happening cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore to name a few. Thereby, it will be no mistake if they are called the extension cities of the booming metros. Of late, the tier II cities like Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad have made business opportunities and infrastructural development like never before. Now it is the turn of the Tier III cities or the smaller cities Kochi, Trivandrum etc. to make it big into the realty business as the government and the corporate sector target them as 'India's Next Destination Cities'.