Eating French macaroons and chilling at the gaming lounge in Agghapur

Noida’s sleepy villages are slowly transforming themselves and may well be on the way to become another Hauz Khas village

Could Noida’s centuries-old villages bridge the urban-rural divide like South Delhi’s Shahpur Jat has done? With unfashionable names like Agghapur and Barola, could these villages become Noida’s answer to the hipster favourite Hauz Khas Village? Rapid expansion of the National Capital Region has led to Noida’s sleepy villages attracting businesses that would have opened shop at one of the many malls or markets in the area had it not been for rising real estate prices.

One such village along the Dadri Road in Sector 41, Agghapur, has over the past two years got its very own gaming lounge and patisserie. Another nearby village, Barola has recently become home to a national chain restaurant, while an international pizza sub outlet has opened up in a place that 10 years ago was s farmland.

As per Anshuman Magazine, the chairman and managing director of CB Richard Ellis South Asia, this was bound to happen.

“The fact is that villages close to large urbanised areas all across India are rapidly urbanising themselves due to rising income levels and exposure. Wherever there is demand, supply will come. So these villages will get better retail places and entertainment facilities,” Mr. Magazine says.

Low rents

Surrounded by construction material shops, automobile mechanics, dhabas, and visit by occasional herd of cows, Agghapur isn’t the first place you would look for to grab a bite of French macaroons or a game of bowling.

Gaurav Wadhwa, who runs the popular bakery and café Theos, says the search for a large space and reasonable rent led him to Agghapur. “We needed a 6,000 square feet area, which was not available in Sector 18 or the malls in Noida. Also the rent here is about Rs. 2-3 lakh less than in the malls,” he says.

According to local property dealers, the monthly rent for a space like Theos or Glued, a gaming lounge in Agghapur, is Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1 lakh whereas in dedicated commercial spaces in Noida the rent would be Rs.3-5 lakh.

“Since this is village land it is on freehold, unlike the rest of Noida which is leasehold. The villagers can carve out plots and build buildings to give out on rent at a lower rate compared to a sector’s market or a mall,” says real estate agent Chandra Prakash.

This means for businesses that are testing the market, the villages offer a low investment alternative. One of the founders of Glued, Anirudh Jayee, says the low rent played a role in the “unconventional” location of the gaming lounge and bowling alley.

“There are challenges in running a gaming lounge here. For instance, in a mall you just pay monthly maintenance charges and everything is taken care of. Here we have to deal with our power, water, security and parking issues ourselves,” he says. Mr. Wadhwa adds that the power situation was so erratic that Theos had to set up its own transformer and heavy cables. Despite this, he says he is very happy in Agghapur. “We have our own individual identity here,” he explains.

Different strokes

That search for something different is what brings people to Agghapur. Everyone from school students celebrating their Board exam results to kitty party aunties have started to frequent the village, which was once seen as shady area. “Yes, we have had minor fall-outs with the villagers as their mind-set is completely different, but largely they have accepted us,” says Mr. Wadhwa.