China’s largest property company, Wanda Group, is planning a massive commercial property launch in India with the creation of a 13-sq-km industrial city near Delhi.
Wanda, headed by chairman Wang Jianlin (pictured above), will invest $10bn in phase 1 of the scheme, which will aim to attract Chinese companies to set up software, automotive manufacturing, healthcare education and other businesses, the company announced today.
Construction is to begin this year.
The government of Haryana State will give Wanda "the most preferential policies" and will set up a committee with Wanda to manage the scheme according to what Wanda called a "Chinese Special Administrative Region management model" to offer "one-stop services" for investors, Wanda said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, meeting Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin in New Delhi on 9 June 2015 (Wanda Group)
Dubbed "Wanda Industrial New City", the project is the outcome of direct meetings between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Wang.
The city will be situated in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor near Delhi.
Wanda said India offered "enormous opportunities", being the second most populous country in the world with an average age of 26 and an urbanisation rate that recently surpassed 30%.
The Haryana State Government and Wanda signed a memorandum of understanding on the new city on 22 January.
The agreement resulted from meetings between Wang Jianlin, Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Haryana State, Manohar Lal Khattar, in June 2015.
Wanda said it will be mainly responsible for investing in the project’s initial infrastructure, and will attract international and "especially Chinese" companies from other industrial, tourism and residential sectors to establish operations.
Wanda said it and Haryana State will sign a formal investment agreement soon.
