Srei Infra plans finance hub at Alibaug to rival BKC : DNA

Acquires 350 acre for the SEZ, which would have a jetty and ferry to Gateway

Kolkata: Attivo Economic Zones, promoted by Srei Infrastructure, is planning a financial hub – a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which would come up at Alibaug near Mumbai.

Formerly called Mumbai Futuristic Economic Zone, the SEZ is located in Raigarh district along Alibaug-Mumbai road and is about 60 kilometres from South Mumbai.

The 350-acre SEZ would be positioned as a rival to BKC in Mumbai, which houses some of the top global and desi financial institutions, but where rentals make the destinations one of the costliest in Asia.

“It would definitely cater to the financial services sector in a large way, kind of a financial hub. We don’t want to divulge more at this point,” Indranil Dasgupta, chief executive officer, Attivo Economic Zones exclusively told dna.

Named Attivo Services City, the SEZ would also house residential properties, and would be spread over 350 acre, the land for which has been fully acquired. Investment envisaged in first phase of 200 acre is about Rs 1200 crore.

Srei is keeping the final details of the project closely guarded as the government is aggressively promoting Prime Minister’s pet GIFT City, a financial services hub proposed in Gujarat.

“We would tailor our project after studying the GIFT City proposal.”

As country’s first international finance centre in Ahmedabad, GIFT has attracted some marquee names like SBI, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank while MCX plans to develop an international exchange.

The Mumbai SEZ, Dasgupta claimed, has its own advantages apart from being located close to Mumbai.

“Currently it’s about two-and-half-hours’ drive from Mumbai airport. The project area has a sea front where we would be setting up a jetty. Once that comes up, a launch ride from Gateway of India would take you there in 40 minutes. The attraction of that area would go up significantly once the Sewri-Uran sea link and the Navi Mumbai airport come up.”

“The SEZ would also house services like IT, ITeS, healthcare and education. Along with that we will have a self contained city with villas and resorts, and would be on stream in the next two years.”

Attivo is also setting up a 2500-acre SEZ in Tuticorin, where land acquisition is complete. Close to Tuticorin port, the SEZ would mainly consist of manufacturing units.

In the notified SEZ, 100 acre has already been sold to over 20 units from compounding, mineral processing, solar, pharma among others.

“We have put in Rs 200 crore in the project and planning a further Rs 700 crore of investments over the next two years to complete the infrastructure development,” he said.