• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

PUNE, March 6

PIRAMAL Holdings Ltd, which has promoted the country's first mall management company, Crossroads, is set to rapidly expand its real estate business and is also finalising plans for a foray from the apparel segment into the foods retailing business.

The company is also growing its malls management business and announced recently that it has entered into a tie-up with city-builder Mr Lalit Kumar Jain to put up its Crossroads mall here on one lakh sq.ft. of space in the upscale Bund Garden, Boat Club road area.

The mall is to be housed within a Rs 90-crore building by Mr Jain's company, Kumar Constructions, which will also have a five-star hotel in addition to Crossroads and multiple entertainment options for shoppers. The Managing Director, PHL, Mr Jaydev Modi, also said the company was close to signing a deal for a property for the mall in Bangalore and another in the Mumbai suburb of Versova. "Our strategy in the future is to grow the mall business through partnerships," Mr Mody said. The company's second mall in south Mumbai is coming up at Nariman Point and has among other things five cinemas, food courts, entertainment and amusement facilities and eight-level parking, he added.

Mr Mody said PHL was rapidly growing its real estate business and was in the midst of building, among other things, a building for offices at Worli and at least a couple of large residential apartments, including one at Bhandup on five lakh sq ft of developed area. "We have a one-and-a-half million sq.ft. land holding in Mumbai of which eight lakh sq.ft. has already been built. This year we plan to build the remaining," Mr Mody said. PHL, incidentally, is putting up a smaller format Crossroads across the road from its bigger sibling for brands that have not found space in the original one and hopes to have the property functional within a year.

Meanwhile, Piramyd Megastore, PHL's in-house retail chain brand is all set to expand its area of operation with the company now making a pilot foray into the food retailing business through small-format superstores. Mr Mody said the company was working on a business plan for the entry into the high-growth food retailing business and said the company would finalise plans for this business in the next two months. The food retailing business will be handled independently by Piramyd and the superstores can either occupy space within it for work as small, independent outlets, he said.

Piramyd Megastores, which is currently bringing in revenues of over Rs 50 crore from the existing two outlets and the food stores in Mumbai and Pune, is now on the verge of opening its third store in Nagpur in the next couple of months.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Piramal Holdings all set to expand real estate biz — Plans to enter food retailing; Crossroads mall soon in Pune

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line