Monday 25 July 2016

The Pune Story – Pride, Power and Privilege

Every city has a story. And ours is a fairy tale!

No other city in India compares to the Pride, Power and Privilege of being Pune. As a real estate developer and a proud Punekar I have followed very closely the happy evolution of our city. And it gladdens my heart to see the stupendous speed at which Pune is growing. It is like someone pressed a button and we went from dial-up Internet to high speed Wi-Fi!

Clearly, a button wasn’t pressed. So what happened? How did good old Pensioners’ Paradise Pune metamorphose into PowerMax Pune?

A lot of things.

And it wasn’t just IT and manufacturing. The Pune Story goes beyond the obvious. Of course it is about the explosion of job opportunities and avenues for education. But there is so much more.
Not too many people know that Pune is the 7th largest metro city of India with the 6th highest per capita income in the country. Pune is the 5th safest city in India. Pune ranks 2nd GLOBALLY in attracting Tech Talent. It is also the 2nd most advanced city in India. Pune is the 4th best city in India for doing business; the 5th most attractive city in India; and ranks 2nd in India on the Overall Quality of Life. Pune, no surprises here, is home to the happiest Indians in the world!
And these happy Indians are scaling up in their capacity to buy. In 2015, Delhi ranked first in spending most on luxury brands, followed by Mumbai (2nd), Ahmedabad (3rd), Pune (4th) and Bangalore (5th).
Pune is an unbeatable combination of Defence, IT/ITeS, a robust Manufacturing sector, a forward-looking Automotive sector, Education, Pharma, and the huge employment opportunities that each one of these sectors brings.
And the people are loving it – a fact that is borne out by a simple statistic: while the national average for in-migration is 17%, Pune has a significantly higher in-migration at 35%! Pune’s population is all set to grow 40% year on year!

So where are all these new people going to live, work, play, grow? The answer is PMRDA – the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, which includes PMC, PCMC, Maval and parts of Haveli, Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Mulshi and Khed talukas of Pune district. Under PMRDA, Pune will extend over a whopping 7800 sq km. Significantly, MMRDA extends over only 4354 sq km – Pune, hold your breath, is set to be almost 2 times as large as Mumbai! When people migrated to Mumbai, Mumbai was caught unawares; which reflects clearly in the sad statistic that 70% of the people live in dilapidated and slum housing in Mumbai. Pune, on the other hand, will be well prepared, well planned, well structured. As the PM has said, the urbanisation of Pune is being looked at as an opportunity; we are all set to be a Smart City, which is going to invite more and more people to settle and prosper in pre-planned development!

This is a time of unprecedented growth and opportunities for all of us in Pune. The figures speak for themselves. The logic is just astoundingly simple – more and more people are coming to Pune; no one can stop this process of in-migration; the city is gearing up with PMRDA to accommodate the growing needs of this beautiful city. The time to believe in the Pune story is always now. I have yet to meet a person who looks back in satisfaction at a real estate purchase that s/he has NOT made. But I have met thousands of people who have said, “Kaash... maine uss samay khareed liya hota!”... “What a missed opportunity, I wish I had purchased it then!!!”

The Pune story is reaching its most exciting chapter.


It is our city. And it is in our hands to script for our beloved city a story of Pride, Power and Privilege.

- Atul Goel, MD - Goel Ganga Group

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