Mumbai: The foundation stone for Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited's Rs110 crore Ishanya shopping mall project was laid by Maharastra's chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, in Pune on January 16, 2005.

Also present on the occasion were were Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, Pune mayor Dipti Chaudhari , industrialists, architects and designers.

Billed as India's largest speciality mall for interiors and building exteriors products and services for the real estate industry, Ishanya (which, in sanskrit means North-east), located on the doorstep of Mumbai in Pune's Yerwada area, will offer over 52 categories of products and services.

Ishanya has been conceived as a 'global specialty mall' to cater to the needs of architects, designers, builders and developers, home and office owners among others. It will comprise retail showrooms for products such as glazing, flooring, furniture, furnishing, white goods, lightning and also sculpture and landscape, offices for architects and interior designers, multipurpose convention and training centres, open air theatres, design studios, an arena for exhibitions, cafeterias and art galleries.

The project marks Deepak Fertilisers entry into the sunrise retail sector as an infrastructure provider. The project is due to be commissioned in December 2005.

Speaking on the occasion, Deshmukh urged the products and services suppliers to the construction industry to gear up for a boom in the Pune region. He said, "Estimates say that Pune and the six adjoining cities would need some 570 million square feet of built-up area in the next three years. This translates into an annual business potential of over Rs9,000 crore."

Inviting the business community to take advantage of the growing organised retailing in the state, he added, "Ishanya clearly is a 'Window to the West' and it is encouraging to see the state take a lead in launching speciality malls. It will be heartening to see Maharashtra become the mall capital of India. The government will definitely support this initiative and is already working upon an incentives policy for the retail sector."

Sheila Dikshit, who had flown in from Delhi for the ceremony, said that the country was currently witnessing a boom in retailing mainly on account of an increase in the disposable incomes of the middle and upper-middle class households. The Delhi CM felt that the entry of corporate houses into the retail sector is a positive sign for the sector and "Ishanya, maybe is not only a window to the west but could emerge as a business centre of national importance." She was particularly appreciative of the construction industry being the business focus of the mall.

Dikshit added, "One sign of the modernisation of Indian retailing is the rapid growth in the number of speciality malls and theme malls. I understand that several businessmen from the Delhi region are keen to be a part of this project. I look forward to their participation in Ishanya as it will create new markets thus going beyond the regional demand."

Delhi had seen a massive surge in outlets for art, sculpture, designer furniture, a trend, which showed why specialty malls would flourish.

DFPCL managing director, Sailesh C Mehta said, "Malls like Ishanya offer a breadth and depth in product range and quality and therefore have the potential to generate crores of business. Such specialty malls also bring in the convenience of "all under one roof" and hence Ishanya will draw several eminent architects, designers, builders, equipment makers and material suppliers from the country and abroad."

The Indian Institute of Architects and Indian Institute of Interior Designers are Ishanya's exclusive concept partners.