Tata Motors, Jusda, Arshiya eye base at JN Port

Tata Motors and supply-chain management players like Jusda and Arshiya are among the 50-odd companies that have expressed interest in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's (JNPT) land that is now up for auction, sources said.

The plots are being leased out by JNPT for its free trade warehousing zone (FTWZ) and special economic zone (SEZ), the bidding process for which has begun.

"We have come out with auction bids for FTWZ and SEZ. The process has begun and it should take a couple of months to finalise the companies," said JNPT chairman-in-charge Neeraj Bansal.

According to the bid documents, 17.97 hectare is up for auction at the FTWZ, the reserve price for which is Rs 87.83 crore for a period of 30 years. FTWZ, which will be set up within the SEZ, will have establishments for export-oriented containerised cargo.

For the SEZ, 11 plots of varying sizes, totalling 11.90 hectare, will be given out on lease for a period of 60 years. The reserve price for this chunk of SEZ land, which will have industrial units next to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JN Port), is Rs 58.16 crore.

As per the plans, a total of 277.38 hectare has been earmarked for the SEZ, of which around 168 hectare will be put up on sale in various tranches.

Sources said that there are several companies, including Tata Motors, Jusda and Arshiya, who are willing to be part of the SEZ and FTWZ. Those who are allotted land in the ongoing round of bidding will not be able to participate in the subsequent ones, thereby leaving plots for other players for the future round of auctions.

A few months ago, Union Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari had said that there are a total of 24 companies who have offered to invest over Rs 60,000 crore in JNPT's SEZ.

So far, approximately 6.5 hectare has already been leased out to six domestic players for setting up their units inside the SEZ.

Earlier this month, DNA Money had reported that Singapore's Ascendas-Sinbridge, DP World and Foxconn are keen on having their unit right next to the JN Port.

Among the names that have now come up, Jusda is into the management of global supply chains, with a business network spreading across China. It has 60 logistics centres around the world, covering 2 million square metre of warehouse space. Furthermore, the company has over 100 cross-border transportation centres and over 1,000 multi-model transportation routes.

Domestic firm Arshiya, too, is into logistics. It is the only free-zone developer operating two FTWZs and the largest private container train operator with pan-India operations. Arshiya's existing FTWZs are at Panvel near Mumbai spread over 165 acre, catering to western India, and Khurja near Delhi, spread over 325 acre and catering to North India. It has 18 rakes, 3,500 containers and six rail sidings.