The slump in the economy seems to have had no effect on demand for industrial property in Gurgaon. If officials at the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (HSIIDC) are to be believed, there is a demand of 5,000 acres of industrial land in Gurgaon district.

“Industrial land rates around Gurgaon range from Rs 9,000 per square metre to Rs 20,000 per square metre. We do not have enough land to fulfill the growing demands and these rates are at present simply speculation,” said a senior HSIIDC official, adding they were in the process of acquiring another 160 acre of land for the upcoming Industrial Modern Township (IMT) in Manesar. The president of Haryana Industrial Association, Krishan Kapoor, said: “Initially the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) used to procure land from villagers and hand it over to HSIIDC for development before selling to end-users. Recently the authority to acquire industrial land was passed to HSIIDC, which now has the responsibility of acquiring land, developing and selling it to end-users,” said Kapoor. “Investors usually purchase industrial plots from HSIIDC and sell them to end-users at higher rates,” he added.

Said Arun Boken, director of Arun Realtors Pvt Ltd: “There has been a slump in industrial land in Gurgaon ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 per square metre in certain areas. Investors who had bought industrial plots here are now impatient to sell them off due to the current market situation. This is the case at Udyog Vihar, Infocity in Sector 37, Pace City I and II or the IMT in Manesar, where 35 to 40 percent land has been taken over by investors. Genuine buyers are waiting for the real estate market to fall further. If they buy property directly from the HSIIDC, they might get it as low as Rs 8,500 onwards, which otherwise is sold at double the price or more by investors. Now, investors are selling land off at no-profit-no-loss rates.”