Mumbai: GMR Infrastructure's 3,300-acre special economic zone (SEZ) in Tamil Nadu will be delayed owing to lacklustre demand from IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) companies.
The company had in August 2007 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) to set up a multi-product SEZ in Krishnagiri, which is 70 km from Bangalore and is connected to National Highway (NH)-7 that runs between Chennai and Bangalore.
The project was supposed to go on-stream in 2009 and be fully occupied by 2012.
But that is not to be. Construction is yet to begin.
Gopalakrishna Kishore, chief operating officer, GMR Krishnagiri SEZ, said only 1,500 acre have been acquired so far.
"The first phase of the project will begin construction in 2010-2011," he said in response to DNA's e-mail queries.
He, however, refused to say when the SEZ would be operational.
A Subbarao, chief financial officer, GMR group, had earlier said the demand scenario was not very encouraging. "So we are restructuring the whole thing. We had planned the SEZ keeping in mind the demand from IT and ITES firms, but now we are looking at companies that make solar photovoltaics," he told DNA. Asked what other kinds of firms GMR was targeting, Subbarao said the plan was not finalised yet.
At the time of the signing of the MoU, GMR said companies in electronics, engineering, IT, ITES, biotechnology and nanotechnology would take up space in the SEZ.
Kishore did not divulge the cost of the overall project or how much GMR had already spent on it. The company had said in 2007 that the SEZ would entail an initial investment of Rs 2,300 crore.
He also did not reveal if any companies had shown interest in setting up shop at the SEZ, which is tipped to have the potential to generate annual exports of Rs 16,000 crore.
GMR is currently setting up another SEZ, a 250-acre aerospace park near the Hyderabad airport it is developing through GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL). It also plans to set up a logistics park there.


