Whers in Coimbatore TCS, WIPRO, Infosys and CTS companies IT parks / software development centers located?

Dearth of space in Bangalore and Chennai for the IT industry to grow any further, the latest focus of the Government on developing the Tier II cities like Coimbatore, entry of major players like the Cognizant, expected entry of several others, including TCS, Wipro, and Infosys, proposed IT park, highly salubrious climate, excellent human resource for the IT industry and proximity to Kerala have all heated up the market.

Mr. Balaji points out the real estate market is on a "real high", which is even better than the one during 1996, which was considered the real boom period.

Among the most sought after areas at present are around Avanashi Road, Kalapatty Road, and Sathy Road (Ganapathy - Saravanamapatty). While the proposed IT Park is the main catalyst for the first two regions, it is the commencement of the operations by the Cognizant, which has fuelled the market on the Sathy Road side. Besides, there is the proposed township by the Sahara Group.

According to him, in the past one year, the land prices in Ganapathy have virtually doubled. A 60'X40' site, which was quoted around Rs. 1 lakh in April 2004 is now about Rs. 2 lakhs. In Kalapatty, a cent, which was quoted at about Rs. 25,000, fetches between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 1.25 lakhs. In places like R.S. Puram, there is no land available at all for forming layouts. Vadavalli is another area, which gets good prices. But it is not in the league of either Avanashi Road or Sathy Road. He admits that the current prices are "exorbitant". "Sensing the positive trend in the market, landowners are quoting astronomical sums and hence, I wouldn't mind calling it even a bubble."