 It’s known as the Steel City of India — a name which it earned from the country’s first iron and steel plant set up by Tata Steel in the early 1900s. The foundation of Jamshedpur, thus, is literally cast in steel and today it is also the city of choice for upwardly mobile people of Jharkhand to settle down. Besides its cosmopolitan ambience, the city has a unique mix of traditional and modern culture. And it has always drawn the attention of industries, educational institutions and real estate developers.
According to a survey conducted by ACNielsen ORG-MARG, Jamshedpur has been rated just after Chandigarh in terms of quality of life and is in the same league as cities such as Bhubaneshwar, Pune and Bangalore. The city is all set to grow further as Tata Steel embarks on an expansion plan for its existing plant. The company has also signed a MoU with the state government for a new 12MT steel plant, for which work is going on.
According to estimates, about 165 real estate developers already have at least one project in hand in Jamshedpur. However, most builders are going slow on new projects and not taking risks due to the slowdown in the real estate sector. Buyers are also somewhat hesitant in investing in new properties. However, in the posh areas such as Circuit House (CH), Bistupur and Sakchi there has been no change as far as growth is concerned, though there has been a downward trend in areas such as Kadma, Sonari, Mango and Adityapur, the city just across the Kharkai river, which flows along Jamshedpur.
Jamshedpur is one of the three most important cities of Jharkhand, along with Ranchi and Dhanbad, which are seeing tremendous boom as far as the real estate sector is concerned, though there has been a small dip due to the global economic slowdown in the last few months.
However, those associated with the real estate sector hope that the current trend will be over soon and the market will bounce back to normalcy. Jamshedpur has seen a retail boom with large number of big companies opening outlets. Reliance Fresh, Spencer’s, Vishal Mega Mart and Big Bazaar have all set up shop. Others brands such as Woodland, Adidas, Lee, Nike and Reebok have been there for quite some time. Very soon, Centenary Mall, a Tata Steel venture, will also be coming up.
According to Kaushal Singh of Astha Properties and Developers Pvt Ltd, since Jamshedpur has ‘genuine’ buyers who purchase flats for their own use, there is not much impact on the residential projects, though, he said that commercial projects have definitely been affected due to the global crisis as the companies were putting a brake on their projects. “But residential projects are going on as usual. In our case, for example, we are working on four townships,” he said.
In view of the slowdown, builders are trying to first sell the existing projects. “We are facing some difficulties these days. At present, our immediate focus is on finishing the ongoing projects,” said Sukumar Bose of Royal Plaza, another builder of the city. “We are waiting for sometime for the market to bounce back, after which we will be starting new projects in Jamshedpur,” he added. In the city, the Circuit House area is the costliest with flats available for Rs 4,000-4,500 per sq ft while the rates are between Rs 3,000-3,500 per sq ft in area like Bistupur, the main shopping centre of Jamshedpur
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