Primarc Group, which runs the ‘Crossword’ franchisee in West Bengal, has invested nearly ₹300 crore in real estate projects in the State.

At least six projects across the IT-township of Sector V in Salt Lake, Kolkata proper and other fringe areas and suburbs like Birati and Chandannaore are already under various stages of construction.

Apart from Crossword, the Kolkata-based group is also the master franchisee for Raymond in the Eastern region. It also has interest in the real estate sector.

According to Sidharth Pansari, Director, Primarc Group, around 1,600-1,700 new residential units will be added through these projects over the next 5-6 years.

Among the ongoing projects, the one in Salt Lake is for commercial use.

“Except a super premium project (Astitva) in Kolkata, other residential projects would be in the mid-to-high range,” he said.

Most of the mid-to-high range apartments would have a carpet area (area covered by the rooms) 600- 800 sq ft and fall under the price bracket of ₹25 -35 lakh. These would mostly be two- and three-bedroom homes.

The super-premium project would have apartments in measuring between 1600-3500 sq ft, and price upwards of ` one crore.

According to Pansari, Astitva has been given a green building certification and has been designed to ensure less power consumption, reuse waste water and rain-water harvesting.

Retail Expansion In the retail sphere, Primarc has tied up with e-commerce major Amazon.in. It retails toys and kids accessories though its retail arm Primarc Pecan Retail Ltd.

Amazon in India operates under a market-place model where goods a kept in Amazon warehouses and order fulfilment is done by the e-commerce players. Revenues are shared between the e-commerce player and the retailer.

“We would look to introduce healthcare offerings through Amazon soon,” Pansari said.