Genpact to set up SEZs in Bhopal, Jaipur

Genpact's proposed information technology-based special economic zone (SEZ) in Bhopal will come out of the drawing board in a day or two.

The company has plans to put in Rs 150 crore to develop the SEZ. MP's Department of Information Technology will transfer 50 acres in Barwai (near Jail area) to the company soon.

The company, according to a highly-placed government source, has plans to set up shop as soon as possible.

"They will probably invest Rs 150-200 crore in the project," said the source. However, a company source refused to divulge the details of the investment.

Top company officials are expected to come to the state capital to take possession of land, which will be available at "Rs 25 lakh per acre".

The MP government has 200 acres in the locality and Genpact, a BPO company principally owned by GE (around 40 per cent), is the first company to reap the benefits of the newly launched IT policy.

Though Madhya Pradesh has an optical-fibre backbone (20,000 km) and gateways for adequate bandwidth to IT companies, soaring land prices have restricted access for the IT sector.

"No state can develop the IT sector if real estate prices are going up each day since a large chunk of family income goes to meet monthly installments to repay loans," said an industry source who has dropped plans to set up a BPO unit in Bhopal.

Genpact has announced expansion plans in Jaipur. The firm has received in-principle clearance to set up an SEZ here from the Board of Approval, Special Economic Zone, of the Ministry of Commerce.

Genpact has also signed a lease and is beginning to construct a 1 million (10 lakh) square feet facility on a 12-acre plot within the IT SEZ, being developed by DLF in Silokhera on NH-8 opposite the 32nd Milestone Complex in Gurgaon (Haryana).