(1888PressRelease)
February 27, 2007 - Pondicherry, a tiny state on the south-east coast of India, was a French colony for almost 300 years up to 1954, seven years after India gained independence from the British. Now, after 53 years, Peaceful Pondicherry (as the government tourism department promotes it) is asking for its place on the world map as Fashionable Pondicherry.
A private-public partnership company – Pondicherry Special Economic Zone Company (PSEZCO) – is setting up the Euro 1.2 billion ($ 1.58 billion) Fashion City Pondicherry – a 4 square kilometer township targeted at the global fashion industry.
PSEZCO has been co-promoted by a consortium comprising the Euro 140 million Subhash Group, the Euro 40 million Om Metals Group and PIPDIC, the industrial promotion arm of the Government of Pondicherry.
“Fashion City Pondicherry, soon to be accorded with a Special Economic Zone or SEZ status by the Government of India, will be the world’s first industrial township dedicated to the fashion industry,” says Amit Bagaria, Chairman & CEO of Asipac Projects, the company responsible for conceiving and strategizing the project and for facilitating all business transactions.
“For the global fashion industry, Fashion City will be a hub for tax-free manufacturing, R&D, apparel and fashion technology, fashion design and other kinds of fashion education, trading, showcasing, meeting, networking and socializing,” adds Bagaria.
Key components of Fashion City Pondicherry include:
■ Industrial Free Zone, with developed industrial plots and ready-built factory units for the fashion industry – textiles, wovens, apparel, footwear, leather goods, accessories, furnishings, linen, decoratives, cosmetics, jewelry, amongst others. There is a common effluent treatment plant and laundry, to cater to the needs of apparel manufacturers.
■ LOGISTIcity, a dedicated sub-zone for all kinds of logistics and warehousing operations, including buying agents’ inspection, customs inspection, packaging, warehousing and onward transportation.
■ Fashion EDUcity has 5-6 art / design / fashion technology colleges, a finishing school, a modeling school and industrial training institutes, tapping the synergy between education and industry, wherein students gain valuable work experience, teachers get consulting opportunities, and industry attracts talented interns / job-seekers.
■ IDEApolis Tech Park, an integration of fashion with technology, on a scenic, sprawling, lakeside site. This 225,000 square meter tech park is ideal for IT, Nanotechnology and R&D in design, textiles & apparel, and offers options between multi-tenanted and independent buildings, with on-site amenities and tax benefits.
■ Fashion Trade Centre, a 48,000 square meter platform for designers, fashion houses and wholesalers to showcase their style, materials, textures and unique fashion ideas to buyers from all over the world. There are office and sampling spaces for buyers, wholesalers, component suppliers, accessory suppliers and machinery suppliers.
■ India Furniture Mart, spread over a mammoth 98,000 square meters or more than a million square feet, is slated to be South Asia’s largest hub for furniture manufacturers and wholesalers to showcase their products to institutional and other bulk buyers, as well as retailers.
■ FaceLift Clinic & Spa, an aesthetic (cosmetic) surgery clinic in a luxurious spa setting, to cater to the growing number of people worldwide opting for a nip here or a tuck there, in order to look better or younger.
■ Fashion SHOWcase is a modern, world-class Expo and Convention Centre with an attached hotel and 5 neighbouring hotels catering to all budgets. It has infrastructure to support small events such as Fashion shows and Collection Launches, as well as big Conventions and Trade Shows for up to 8000 people.
Fashion City Pondicherry comes complete with international standard infrastructure and amenities, including an International Residential School with dual curriculum, Housing for all budgets, including French-style townhouses, villas and chalets, 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, a Sports Club, a 180-bed Hospital, Office spaces for 6000 people, a Fashion Lifestyle Mall, Supermarkets & Conveniences Stores, a High-Street with boutiques, bars and cafes, and other leisure and entertainment facilities.
The township, which has been master planned by Jurong International Singapore, with experience in master planning more than 300,000 hectares of industrial towns, will have strictly enforced urban development guidelines. It will also have high security, 24-hour power supply, world-class landscaping, non-polluting public transport, a transport interchange hub and a heliport.
It is located just 6 km from Pondicherry Domestic Airport, 15 km from Pondicherry Port and 132 km from Chennai International Airport – India’s third busiest international airport. Apart from 4-lane highways to these gateways, there is also direct road connectivity to 4 other ports. Major industrial centres like Bangalore are only 300 kms away.
“Major companies such as Louis Vuitton, Hidesign, Unilever, Honda, GE, Wipro, Lenovo, HCL and others are already manufacturing in Pondicherry”, says Anil Sethi, Director, PSEZCO, “Fashion City Pondicherry would contribute in a big way towards making India the 2nd largest manufacturing base for fashion goods.”
“Pondicherry has been ranked as India’s best small state by India Today (India’s leading weekly newsmagazine),” comments Rattan Singh of the Government’s elite Indian Administrative Service, Director of PSEZCO and Managing Director of PIPDIC, “The same magazine also ranks the state as 1st in law & order and investment environment.”
“Pondy has an abundance of naturally talented, peace loving workforce with the average labour wage less than 40 Euros per month,” says Sunitha Perumal, Senior Manager, Asipac, “and this project will add more than 175,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
“Being the only French colony in India, Pondy still maintains its rich architecture, culture and heritage, and the people of Pondy have an exquisite taste for fashion, art and interiors,” according to Dipti Varma of Asipac, who has spent more than 15 days surveying the tiny city-state and its people.
Adds Nidha Adeni, who is part of Asipac’s business facilitation team: “Pondy is away from the hustle and bustle of big cities, yet easily accessible. I love the unmistakable French connection, tree lined boulevards, quaint colonial heritage buildings and stretches of pristine beaches. What could be more fashionable than this?”
Fashion City Pondicherry is the ideal venue for those fashion brands or their manufacturing partners who wish to take advantage of manufacturing in India but do not wish to deal with the poor infrastructure in most industrial locations, according to Tina Hennessy, who is senior manager with Asipac and who recently met with more than 20 interested companies in Europe.
Infrastructure construction activities at the project site are expected to begin by April 2007 and the first factories are expected to start producing by April 2008.
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