Chennai and Jaipur to be seed sites of Mahindra Lifespaces-Actis JV

The two Mahindra World Cities, Chennai and Jaipur, will be the seed sites to be acquired and developed by the Joint Venture platform in the initial stage, subject to requisite approvals. Both cities offer 100 acres of land with ready infrastructure and a built-up potential of over 2 mn sq ft, said Mahindra Lifespaces in its press release.

Mahindra lifespace developers, the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group and Actis, is a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure have entered into a joint venture for developing industrial and logistics real estate facilities across India.

Major stake of the joint venture's  total investment is to be acquired by Actis. Over the initial years, total investment is to be estimated at Rs 2,200 crore including debt, said the release.

The Mahindra World City (MWC) developments in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Jaipur (Rajasthan) comprise large-format integrated cities that have been planned to be self-contained, with co- located industrial, residential and commercial infrastructure.  Both encompass dedicated Special Economic Zones, Domestic Tariff Areas, residential and social spaces. 

Moreover, other greenfield and brownfield sites in key markets across India are also to be acquired and developed at the same time under this joint venture.

“We are witnessing a strong and accelerating demand for Grade A warehousing and manufacturing facilities from both multinational and Indian clients,” said Arvind Subramanian, Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra Lifespaces.

He said that with their experience in building and operating thriving integrated cities and industrial parks and ready-to-market plug-and-play infrastructure in Mahindra World Cities in Chennai and Jaipur and are well-positioned to cater to this demand. 

“We look forward to combining the expertise of both partners in infrastructure development and asset management and contributing to the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’,” said Subramanian.

Industrial and warehousing have emerged as a high-growth real estate asset class buoyed by rising consumer demand and accelerating manufacturing investment. This will further get a push to investments by the recently launched logistics policy.

Ashish Singh, Partner and Head of India and SE Asia Real Estate, Actis, said that Actis sees enormous growth potential in the sector as India grows to become the third largest consumption economy globally by the turn of this decade, he said.

“The demand for industrial real estate is on the rise as India benefits from a renewal of domestic capital investment cycle, realignment of global supply chains in many sectors and as the Government’s production linked incentives (PLI) schemes catalyse more and more investment in manufacturing locally,” said Singh.

He also said that there is a need for more dependable  real estate solution providers and institutional owners in this sector. Actis is excited to partner with Mahindra Lifespaces to invest in the development of modern and sustainable warehousing and industrial space in India which will improve logistics efficiency and support industrial growth, both key focus areas for the Government.