Creative Infocity to invest Rs 500 crore

Creative Infocity Ltd will invest Rs 500 crore in the next 2-3 years for IT infrastructure development.

Apart from setting up more Info Towers in the IT Park, the company would use the amount to construct around 240 service apartments at Infocity, Gandhinagar.

Creative Infocity is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated as a 89:11 joint venture between US-based Creative IT Inc and Gujarat Informatics Ltd.

Hiten Barot, executive director of Creative Infocity Ltd, said, "While the upcoming special economic zones (SEZs) in Gujarat are viable only for mega IT companies, our IT Park has the first mover's advantage and provides comprehensive IT infrastructure to any kind of company. We already have 40 clients based out of Infocity and are hoping to attract 50-60 more clients in the coming years. However, we may also set up an IT SEZ in the state, given the viability."

The company has a land bank of 20 million sft. While Info Tower-I and II have already been constructed, Info Tower-III is likely to be constructed by the end of the month. The company will soon begin construction work on a fourth tower, along with around 240 service apartments.

"We are planning to build at least 480 service apartments of which work on 240 is likely to begin in May. We will be one of the first IT infrastructure companies to offer such a slew of service apartments, which had so far been a trend in the West only," said Barot.

Recently, the company leased out an additional 90,000 sft of space to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) in the upcoming Info Tower-III. TCS already occupies 1,15,000 sft in the earlier towers in Infocity.

Having begun almost eight years ago, Creative Infocity Ltd expected to break even in 2004 but is now forced to revise the deadline to late 2009.

The total investment made so far on a 116-acre of land has been at the tune of Rs 100 crore while the returns have been between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, added Barot.

Since the majority of the funding comes from the parent company, Creative Infocity Ltd is undecided over raising money from the capital market.