Bangalore may have carved an enviable position among the country's IT destinations, but it has, lately, become equally notorious for its choc-a-bloc, byzantine traffic, with unending parking woes.
City-based Central Parking Services (CPS) promises to ease parking woes to a large extent. The company, which focuses on off-street parking, is looking to expand its base in tier II and III cities in the next 18 months. The company already has presence in major cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, and Baroda.
At present, CPS has 15 ongoing projects that will come up at an investment of Rs 15 crore in the next 12 months. The parking management company has already completed 35 projects across the country.
“The parking management industry in India is in a nascent state and has a long way to go. However, in the next 5 years, the industry is likely to touch Rs 2,500 crore, with the participation of international and local players,” says N Sathyanarayanan, managing director of CPS.
“The growth of the sector depends on the growth in the number of shopping malls in every city, the modernisation of the airport and the infrastructure development across the country,” he added. A high-value sector with the potential to draw big money, the Indian parking management industry, worth Rs 500 crore at present, is rather fragmented and unorganised. Globally, the business is huge, with the US raking in $7 billion, he said.
One of the major problems faced by most Indian cities is the ever-increasing number of vehicles, says Sathyanarayanan. The company handles about 90,000 cars in a day across the 11 cities in which it operates.
Among many projects of the company include parking facility near the new international airport, UB City and key shopping malls such as the Forum, Sigma and Garuda in Bangalore.
In addition, CPS has built parking facilities for Kolkata’s South City Mall, Delhi's Select Citywalk, Mumbai Airport’s Terminal 1B and Chennai's Sriram Gateway.
CPS designs off-street parking facilities, installs parking management equipment and also operates parking lots. The company helps retailers, infrastructure firms and hospitals to manage their parking space. The company works on a project from its inception level and, while building a parking lot, takes into consideration its impact on the neighbouring infrastructure and how it can handle additional traffic flow, besides the total number of vehicles.
Going forward, CPS aims to design, build and manage stand-alone parking lots and plans to invest huge amount of money in the business
vertical.