India digs deep Down Under

Tech solutions, real estate and food production - India's interest in Australia encompasses a wide array of sectors. ANAROCK buys Indian arm of Aussie firm

ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt Ltd, the real estate venture floated by former JLL India chief Anuj Puri, has acquired the local operations of Australian realty broking firm LJ Hooker under the Redwoods brand. ANAROCK chairman Puri said in a statement: “The acquisition of LJ Hooker's Redwoods is in line with our overall business strategy and will help us augment our operations across key southern markets.” Bangalore-based Redwoods Projects Pvt Ltd will provide ANAROCK a competitive advantage in offering customised real estate solutions. The company has 750 employees and aims to ramp up the headcount to 1,000 by the end of 2017. It operates in all key property markets across India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune and also has a presence in Dubai. It provides broking and advisory services to clients, investment services, debt, equity and mezzanine funding, and research and consulting for residential real estate through a hybrid online-offline model. Mahindra Comviva to acquire Emagine

Mahindra Comviva, a Gurugram-based mobile tech solutions firm, will acquire Sydney-based Emagine International. Emagine International provides real- time, contextual marketing solutions and managed business intelligence services. It enables global telecom operators to reduce churn and generate net incremental revenue from their customers. "The acquisition of Emagine will significantly enhance Comviva's strengths and in addition to the technology and solution capabilities of both companies, matured managed marketing services will further enable Comviva to deliver enhanced customer value," Mahindra Comviva said in a statement. The move will also strengthen Comviva's in-region capabilities to deliver end-to-end solutions to customers with the addition of customers, including Optus, 9 Mobile (formerly Etisalat Nigeria), Virgin Mobile, Vodacom and Vodafone Australia to Comviva's portfolio. David Peters, CEO of Emagine International, and Mahindra Comviva Business Head (customer value management) Amit Sanyal will be the executive heads of the combined business. IG in JV with Aussie blueberry firm

One of India's leading produce importers and distributors, IG International, is making its first foray into production by entering into a joint venture with Australia's Mountain Blue to grow their blueberry varieties in India. They will together create a new company called BerryLife. Tarun Arora, IG director, said: “We found out that Mountain Blue had excellent blueberry varieties which can easily be grown in India, so it really complements our strong infrastructure and strong distribution network.” The first stage of 50 hectares is due to be planted in the first quarter of next year, with the inaugural harvest expected in 2019. Arora said the varieties would likely be planted at four locations in Western India with different climatic factors in order to spread out the season. While the initial harvests will run from February through August - which Arora pointed out was an attractive window falling largely in between the South and North American seasons - the goal is to continue planting and ultimately achieve close to year-round production.