CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) has commenced operations for phase 1 of International Tech Park Chennai, Radial Road, in the presence of Chief Minister M.K Stalin. Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce T.R.B Rajaa and Minister for MSME T.M Anbarasan were present at the event. It first intends to invest over S$500 million in Chennai over the next five years across multiple asset classes.
“To date, CLI has invested about S$750-S$800 million in Chennai and we expect to invest over S$500 million in the next five years across multiple asset classes, with a special focus on IT parks, logistics, and data centres. We hope to further contribute to the government’s efforts in enhancing the State’s infrastructure,” Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO, CLI India said.
In a statement, the company said that this was the first business park in India to be certified by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) as Net Zero for energy efficiency, water conservation and waste management. Located along Chennai’s newest and fastest growing IT corridors, the 5 million sq. ft. business park would offer four Grade A office blocks with the capacity to house over 50,000 IT service professionals. In phase 1, the 1.3 million sq.ft office block has already signed a lease commitment with Vestas Wind Technology India for about 250,000 sq. ft of office space. The development of phase 2 is currently underway and set to begin operations by second quarter of 2024.
Phase 1 and phase 2 of ITPC-Radial Road comprising of 2.6 million square feet of office space is being developed by CapitaLand Investment under the newly launched CapitaLand India Growth Fund 2 (CIGF2), with a target fund size of S$525 million to invest in Grade A business parks in prime locations across gateway cities in India. In August 2023, CLI secured S$262.5 million (INR 16.3 billion) from Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd for a 50% stake in the fund’s first closing. CIGF2 has since acquired a 70% equity stake in ITPC-Radial Road as a seed asset from CLI for S$95 million (INR 5.9 billion) and the remaining 30% stake is held by CLI. CLI continues to manage ITPC-Radial Road after its divestment.
Mr. Rajaa said, “CapitaLand, formerly Ascendas, has been Tamil Nadu’s trusted partner for two decades, powering our knowledge economy and providing the infrastructure for several IT and ITES companies.” He also said: “We have attracted some of the largest global organisations to our State for their offices, GCCs and R&D centres, and projects such as these are crucial to the State meeting our investors’ rapidly growing high-quality office space demands”.
CLI first entered Chennai with the establishment of International Tech Park Chennai – Taramani (ITPC-Taramani), the city’s first private IT park, in 2005. CLI’s portfolio in Chennai now comprises IT parks, industrial parks, logistics and warehousing and lodging assets. It recently announced plans to set up a data centre in Ambattur, Chennai with an investment of over ₹1,200 crore.
