Free office space for Indian company who is looking forward to setting up business

Nottingham is counted as the one of the lesser known or popular cities in the United Kingdom. The city has now come forward and announced that they will be offering free office space for Indian company who is looking forward to setting up business in that region. This office space will be completely free of cost for a period of two years. The main reason behind this announcement is solely to encourage all the Indian companies to look at London not just as any business location and more forward with that. As far as the city is concerned, the City Council of Nottingham comes under the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom.

The Nottingham city:

According to Nat Puri who is a Punjab-born businessperson as well as ambassador of Nottingham, the city is not limited to be only considered as the ultimate destination for setting up business but being cost effective, makes the city a much more fun place to stay in contrary to what other Indians feel, I came to the city just like that but ended up falling in love with the space. Representing the Nottingham City Council, Mr. Puri stated that the announcement is not a rumor but it is to encourage people to come to the city and own a 250 square meter office space, available in the heart of the Nottingham city. The business owner does not have a pay for atleast a year or two for that acquired office space. This move is towards breaking out the inertia and encourages Indian companies to explore the business options in the city. It is all about exploring out the business opportunities in the city.

According to Nottingham City Council’s Director of Economic Development, Chris Henning, this move is about providing soft balance for Indian companies. He further added that the city offers attractive investment platform for companies especially from India. This all can be attributed to the innovative businesses, which are developing faster than before apart from academic interest, making the city ultimate gateway for Traders in Europe. This is a long-term strategy targeted towards Indian businesses led by the council and comprises of companies like University of Nottingham and Nottingham Means Business. The main strategy is about building trust through Investment Bridge, which has proven to attract Indian businesses.

Chris also made another announcement to the University of Nottingham that requires them to work along with the Indian Consul General’s office located in Birmingham. According to Shuchita Sonalika, who is the Director and Head of CII’s UK operation; there has been a sudden increase in the interest shown by the Indian companies towards exploring business opportunities in some of the less popular area of the United Kingdom. Reports suggest that even Air India is looking forward to expanding their business around some of less known placed in the UK and might look into East Midlands airport as their hub for starting new flights. Nottingham city is known for having the highest employment rate in terms of knowledge-based services. The city council is focusing on the Nottingham city to make their regional business engagement strong.

Potential investors considering investing in the Mumbai Metropolitan region are in for a shock as the realty market around the MMR is competing with that of California, in the U.S. Added to the existing rush is the proposed metro rail project which is all set to catapult the market price further.

The illogical rise in prices of land — residential and office spaces — may act as a stumbling block for the growth according to the industry bodies and NRIs. Bankers too opine that such a scenario would prove to be counter-productive to the expected industrial eco-system.

The California-based NRI are put off by the mad realty rush. “This is a never-before-price and there is no logic behind it. When I make a realistic comparison, land around California is cheaper than the eastern Mumbai region. Investing here doesn’t make any business sense” they say.

While an acre near Livemore in California costs about Rs. 5.5 crore, the same stretch is priced at Rs.24 crore on the outskirts of Thane.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is of the opinion that the development is definitely a setback for the potential investors. “Not a happy situation. Industrialists are expected to invest on machinery and other aspects besides land. The break-even period will be delayed significantly which may discourage potential investors,” he felt. On the other hand, the present situation is seen as once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the small and big real estate firms to make a quick buck. The government has banned conversion of agricultural land and named hundreds of illegal layouts to prevent price rise but it did not yield any result. Market experts say that it’s realty bubble in the making.

“The local people are becoming millionaires overnight, purchasing swanky cars and blowing up money on luxuries. Now you see the bubble bursting as the economy is slowing down and the people have stopped making much inquiries about investing in the region. Illogical rise in prices of land may act as a stumbling block for growth.