DS Kulkarni announces SEZ

Pune-based real estate major DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd's proposed multi-service special economic zone (SEZ) at Phursungi has received formal approval from the Board of Approvals of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, announced the company in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

DSK plans to develop a 250 acre SEZ facility in association with a US-based company. "This SEZ would be a 'processing zone' equipped with an industrial and product design studio, gaming and an animation studio and engineering unit. Information technology, bio-technology and financial institutions will also be present, apart from a diamond processing unit, and companies from the banking and insurance sector," DSK group chairman and managing director DS Kulkarni told Business Standard. The approval was received on December 15, 2008, Kulkarni added.

The DSK Group has under its wing ten companies across different sectors including construction, IT, automobile, pharmaceutical and others. The group's educational wing, DSK Global Education and Research Pvt Ltd had ventured with the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Valenciennes (CCIV), France to start a school of industrial design engineering, animation and gaming within the premise of the SEZ. There are discussions that DSK would soon venture into the entertainment segment with production of Hollywood films scheduled to happen at the studios in the future. "We will invest around Rs 150 crore for this SEZ. Out of this, we have already invested Rs 70 crore so far," Kulkarni added.