TOKYO -- Japan's Sumitomo Realty & Development will invest 500 billion yen ($3.58 billion) in office building projects in India, expanding in what is projected to become the world's most populous nation mere months from now.
The company recently spent 35.1 billion yen acquiring about 12,000 square meters of land in the Bandra Kurla Complex, known as BKC, a rapidly developing business and residential district of Mumbai, Nikkei has learned. The plot is one of the largest office building sites in BKC.
The Sumitomo real estate company, which had earlier acquired another BKC site, plans to construct two large-scale buildings with a total floor area of about 130,000 sq. meters each on the two sites. Completion is expected between fiscal 2025 and 2027.
Mumbai is home to many Indian conglomerates and global information technology companies. The BKC area in recent years has exploded as it is the closest business district to the airport. It will also be within walking distance of high-speed rail and new metro stations, once these projects are completed.
After the two Mumbai towers are finished, Sumitomo will take on other development projects in India. By fiscal 2030, the company expects to post a profit of about 30 billion yen in India and other overseas markets.
India's population currently sits around 1.4 billion and is expected to top that of China next year, according to United Nations estimates.
Sumitomo Realty & Development joins other Japanese property groups in expanding overseas. Mitsui Fudosan recently completed 50 Hudson Yards, a 58-story office building in the Manhattan area of New York. It hopes operating profit from its U.S. operations will more than triple to over 70 billion yen by fiscal 2025 from 2021.
Mitsubishi Estate, meanwhile, is accelerating developments in Europe, the U.S. and Southeast Asia.