In the first Japanese entry into the Indian property market, Tama Home today announced construction of 12-18 projects at an investment of Rs 6,000 crore in partnership with another firm.
Tama Home, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has an annual sales of Rs 10,000 crore and builds 10,000 homes a year, while its partner Singapore-headquartered Developer Group, a 100 per cent FDI company, is engaged in the Indian real estate.
Developer Group is promoted by Japanese investors but managed by Indian professionals.
To start with, Japan's Tama Home and Singapore's Developer Group, will jointly build three housing projects, including two townships, having about 3,500 housing units, in Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam and Chennai.
"India has tremendous potential for growth in housing. We have found a reliable partner in Developer Group to enter into the Indian market.... We want to replicate Suzuki story in India," Tama Home President and CEO Yasuhiro Tamaki told reporters here.
Tam Home will bring the eathquake-proof technology to the Indian realty market.
Asked whether the decision to enter India was taken after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan, he said: "It was planned a year ago but the process was expedited after the PM's visit."
He, however, declined to share the further investment plan in India.
Tama Home's entry into India comes a week after Japanese telecom group SoftBank buying a major stake in Snapdeal.com for USD 627 million.
A number of Japanese companies are already present in India across sectors like automobiles and consumer goods, while financial services from there have also began evincing interest to set up shops here.
Commenting on the tie-up, Developer Group CEO David Rebello said: "Developer group and Tama Home will together develop about 12-18 projects in the next five years at a cost of about Rs 6,000 crore. Our focus will be on housing segment but we will do other projects as well."
The project cost would be funded through equity and domestic debt, he added.
The joint venture will launch two township projects in the next four months at Ludhiana and Visakhapatnam. By middle of 2015, it will come up with another housing project in Chennai.
Tama Home will have a stake in the Developer Group, which in turn will have stake in Tama Home Indian arm.
Developer Group India Pvt Ltd is buying land as well as partnering land owners to build projects. It would outsource the construction activities to local contractors.
The joint venture firm would also look into possibilities of developing smart cities, commercial, hospitality projects.