India, June 21 -- In a daring but strategic move, Godrej Properties Limited (GPL), India's best known real estate developer, has recently purchased a 14-acre landholding in Hoskote, East Bengaluru. Although on first blush it may look like just another land bank addition to their portfolio, this transaction is an expression of a larger and more formidable trend: East Bengaluru is no longer a peripheral section of the city - it's becoming an economic and residential powerhouse. The GPL acquisition is more than a corporate property deal, though, but rather an opening to the transformation of East Bengaluru that is under way.

Why Hoskote? Why Now? Hoskote, previously a low-profile suburb with not much hype beyond industrial parks and agricul...