Malabar Group, which developed a strong reputation as a gold and diamond jewelry trader, is set to launch Malabar Integrated Township – a mixed-use master-planned community that will be built in Trissur, central Kerala with a development cost of Rs20 billion ($293 million). This landmark project is being developed by its property division — Malabar Developers.
Malabar Integrated Township, a city within a city where one can live, work and play will create a community comprising of information technology hub, a commercial business cluster, a large convention facility, a residential community, a shopping mall and entertainment centre. It will also host a five-star hotel along with a business hotel and an iconic residential tower that will raise the profile of Kerala in urban landscape. IT professionals will be able to live and work within the same community that will offer them a perfect work-life balance. Conveniently located on the National Highway 47, the project is situated closely from 90-minutes driving distance of three international airports — Kochi, Coimbatore and Calicut.
The project, that will create more than 50,000 jobs, will be built on a five million square feet area. About 40 percent of the area will be for residential projects while 30 percent of the area will be for the IT business park.
The massive project will take Malabar Developers, which has been delivering real estate projects since 1995, to a new level and help expand the group’s capabilities to support and help realize the Indian government’s vision to take the economy to the next level. Malabar Developers have been transforming aspirations and landscapes of a great nation and its people delivering over 1.8 million square feet in residential and commercial segments of India. Currently Malabar Developers has ongoing projects of over 3 million sq ft and another 10 million sq ft earmarked for construction, which includes around 5,000 residential units within 8 cities across all categories of residences.
Kerala is the first Indian state to have a 100 percent literate society. The state, therefore, is the preferred base for a 100 percent knowledge society. The state, which has been producing some of India’s best information technology professionals, however, could not retain them due to lack of IT infrastructure and facilities, something that is changing gradually.
“Malabar Integrated Township is going to change that. It will help not only retain and nurture the local IT talents, but also help attract those scattered across other IT hubs in the world,” MP Ahammed, chairman of Malabar Group, said.
“Malabar Integrated Township will also attract investment in outsourcing business — which due to a competitive environment worldwide — will look at more cost effective destination. When it comes to cost advantage, no one could beat the cost competitiveness of Kerala.
“Our project has carefully been planned to offer a greater value to the global IT industry while looking at the economy of Kerala and India. The project, once delivered successfully, will become a model for the development of mixed-used integrated master-planned communities by the private sector developers.”
The project will offer office blocks on lease as well as sale for investors and IT companies. Malabar Developers plans to deliver the infrastructure and the full project.
The total information technology business in Kerala, both domestic and export, was around $1.6 billion in 2015. The government has set an ambitious target of $3 billion business and five lakh jobs in the IT sector — that will require private sector developers to create IT knowledge clusters — to help realize the vision.
Compared to other parts of the country, Kerala offers 30 percent lower costs and provides electricity at `5.51 per unit, which is the lowest in the country. Such factors will help us achieve the target of 5 lakh jobs by 2020. At five percent, the attrition rate in Kerala is very low, compared to 25 per cent in Bengaluru. At present, there are over 600 IT companies operating in the state, and about 11 percent of the country’s total IT workforce is from Kerala.
The social and communal harmony of Kerala combined with its moderate and balanced climate makes it a preferred destination in India. The location of the project in Thrissur also known as the cultural capital of Kerala because of its cultural, spiritual and religious leanings throughout history. It has also served as an incubator for many entrepreneurs and is a major financial and commercial hub of Kerala. Apart from being the cultural nerve center of Kerala, it is also a major academic hub and is home to several educational institutions.
Ahammed said, “As a socially responsible business group, we want to realign our business with the needs of the country and our society. Malabar Integrated Township will help Kerala to realise its vision. Our facilities and the environment will match those in the developed world. We want our IT experts and professionals to enjoy the best working and living environment that money could buy — in Kerala.”
The electronics manufacturing industry is the largest and fastest-growing manufacturing segment in the world, with a current estimated value of $1.75 trillion and is expected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2020.
When combined with India’s growing strength in semiconductor chip design, Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) can provide unprecedented opportunity for growth and employment. Government envisions Kerala to become a preferred destination for ESDM investments and become a major contributor in Electronics design and embedded software in India by the year 2020.
Besides, India’s real estate sector is also graduating to the next level with the new upwardly mobile professionals want quality life, good income and a perfect work-life balance with less hassle. Over the next decade, the real estate sector is expected to grow by 30 per cent. The Indian real estate market size is expected to touch $180 billion by 2020. Malabar Integrated Township is expected to fulfil the current and future needs of the new IT professional class. — SG
