Currently there are more than 40 similar businesses that have come up in the area, of which more than 60 percent have mushroomed in last two years, to cater to the predicted growth of 40 percent in demand in the area.
THE GARDEN BOOM
The advent of corporates and the opening of housing co-operatives in New Town and the surrounding areas have generated opportunities for the landscaping industry.
“Today there are several companies which have mushroomed in and around the Rajarhat area for the various projects that are coming up in the area,” says Deepak Bhattacharya, a veteran in this field who has been running Garden Decor for over two decades now. His company has been registering a year on year growth of over 15 percent for the last few years.
“Anyone and everyone who has some knowledge about plants are entering this business,” he says.
SOWING THE SEED
This business doesn’t involve a huge sum of investment in the beginning. A landscaping business can be started with an initial sum of Rs 1.5 lakh. The cost increases if one wants to buy land for a nursery. The investment then ranges between Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 1 crore, depending on the cost of the land and the kind of plants to be reared. Industry experts advise that having a nursery of your own at the very beginning is not a wise decision.
The cost of landscaping a garden can vary from Rs 50,000 to even a crore depending on the area and the kind of landscaping required.
Largely there are two kinds of landscape gardening -soft landscape and hard landscape. Soft landscaping is done only with plants, creepers or flowers but hard landscaping involves plants and other elements like wood, stones or fountains. It is a much costlier option.
“Garden landscaping today has become a trend, every office today separates land for such purposes. Housing co-operatives too go for such options, to beautify their surroundings,” says Anindya Chowdhury, owner, Green and Flowers, a garden landscaping firm which began operation in 2009.
REAPING FRUITS
Chowdhury entered this business looking at the galore and variety of projects in the region. The company has worked with various corporate clients like TCS for landscape gardening. Started in 2011, his firm had only five projects, but now he has eight sizeable projects in his kitty. This year he has worked on three projects with one in the pipeline. With six dedicated designers the firm has registered an annual growth of 25 percent.
Chowdhury also deals in avenue plantation and roof-top gardening. But median landscaping fetches the company something between Rs 75,000 to Rs 4 lakhs depending on the area to be covered. “For avenue or roadside plantation, it can vary from Rs 15 to Rs 50 per sapling inclusive of all charges,” says Chowdhury. He adds that with shooting real estate prices in Salt Lake, people are selling the extra space in front of the bungalow and are going for roof-top gardens.
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