CHANDIGARH - INDIA’S ONLY GLOBAL CITY

By M H Ahssan

High income levels and great civic amenities make Chandigarh a dream destination for marketers

In the past five years, Chandigarh has done well in several fields such as software, real estate, luxury goods and automobiles. The city is now home to most luxury brands and some of the largest retail chains . It has also emerged as a huge market for the FMCG and consumer durable industries.

Chandigarh is now aspiring to become a hub of economic activity, propelled by the services sector and its allied investments in retail and real estate. This has brought brands like Tag Heuer, Rado, Ferragamo Salvatore, Ecco, Tommy Hilfiger to Chandigarh while others like Mango, Louis Vuitton and Chanel are vying for space. The land availability isn’t a deterrent for Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop, Vishal Megamart, Reliance Retail, and dealerships for luxury cars that have made base in the city’s Industrial and Business Park.

Major hotel chains such as The Lalit, The Oberoi’s and Taj GVK are making their way to Chandigarh, while international chains like Accor’s Novotel and Ibis, Emaar’s Formula 1 and New York’s Berggruen Hotel’s Keys are awaiting the good times to return to begin work on their property.

An international airport will be operational this year and a metro rail project (in collaboration with the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) is being put in place. A bullet train service to New Delhi, cutting travel time to nearly an hour, will help the city attract businesses and traders to the city.

Radio taxis with electronic metres, GPS, low-floor bus services on a grid system and a fleet of 100 AC and non-AC buses under the JNNURM scheme are expected to make the city a better place to live. In terms of living standards, Chandigarh is the first ‘smoke free’ and ‘plastic free’ city. Now the efforts of the city government are on to make it slum free. More than 25,000 small flats are being constructed to rehabilitate slum dwellers in a Rs 1,300-crore housing project.

The city offers the highest living standards in the country. Some of the civic amenities and infrastructure facilities are among the best in the country. Within a radius of 10 km, the city offers everything including a horse-riding club, tennis and cricket academies, police station, recreational green spaces and an array of eating joints like Pizza Hut, Dominoes and bistros Barista, Café Coffee Day and Costa Coffee.

An education city has been envisaged to enhance the supply of human resources especially financial service professionals, hospitality managers and skilled technicians to reduce talent-drain to other cities. A cyber security research centre (first of its kind in the country) has been set up in collaboration with NASSCOM and Punjab Engineering College for conducting high quality research on cyber security issues involving the academia, IT industry and government security agencies. A Medi-City has been planned on an area of 100 acres which will have state-of-the-art super specialty hospitals, providing quality health care as well as promoting medical tourism. This will be in addition to two government-run multi-specialty hospitals.

A botanical garden is being developed on 178 acres in Sarangpur, a village on the outskirts of the city, which consists of 15 botanical sections and other features to promote eco-tourism. Besides stretches of green spaces that divide housing sections (sectors), there are a number of gardens like Rose Garden which is Asia’s largest garden of roses. A bamboo valley is being established in the heart of city to add to the green cover. Add to this three lakes that are being constructed by the city administration.

Chandigarh is also one of the few cities in India where equal thrust is given on power conservation and more use of renewable energy. An Energy Park is being set up with the support of Union ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), which will go a long way in educating the residents about the uses of renewable energy. Tata BP Solar Ltd is helping the city to realise its dreams and to develop Chandigarh as a Solar City for which The Energy Research Institute (TERI) has been asked to prepare a master plan.

Long term tie-ups have been made with all the power corporations to ensure regular power supply but the stress is being laid on reducing T&D losses to the bare minimum. The target is to bring it down to 16% which presently hovers at around 19%.

To encourage industrial growth, the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) has been set up. Companies like Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, besides 20 others, have already employed around 9,000 professionals there. In 2007-08 fiscal, the total software exports from RGCTP alone were Rs 390 crore out of Rs 500 crore for Chandigarh and Rs 820 crore for the tri-city (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali). Up to December 2008, the software exports from RGCTP have touched Rs 436 crore and is likely to cross Rs 550 crore by the year end. Once completed, with a total area of 650 acres, it will provide direct employment to more than 60,000 professionals. Accordingly, the total investment in RGCTP will cross Rs 6,000 crore and the software exports from RGCTP will cross Rs 4,500 crore by the end of 2012.

To keep the spark of entrepreneurship alive, a state of the art entrepreneur’s development centre is being established by the administration. A business-friendly conversion policy allows the owners of plots in the industrial area to convert them into commercial projects, paving the way for modern shopping malls, hotels and commercial centres.