Bata diversifies in real estate.

(From The Times of India)

Byline: Sumali Moitra

KOLKATA: Bata India Ltd said on Friday it would form a 50:50 joint venture with a Kolkata-based builder to develop a satellite township on 264 acres at its manufacturing facility at Batanagar, with the objective to reduce some of the expenses it currently had to incur for maintaining its biggest production facility.

The alliance with Calcutta Metropolitan Group Ltd was likely to be sealed by December and the pay-back from the venture - whose cost was not disclosed - was expected to come over a 3-5 year time-frame.

"It's an excellent project because companies (like Bata) should not be engaged …