Corporate India’s Search for Space

India the sleeping giant of the nineties woke up from its

slumber, the moment the trumpet of globalization in trade and commerce was blown close to its ears. Even then its awakening was lazy and slow. True to its tradition it woke up gradually but not unsteadily .While the rise of its Asian neighbour was euphoric but short lived.



India waited and took time to gauge the ground reality and with low on confidence postponed celebrations. The patience has paid off. The recession of the late eighties and nineties is a forgotten word .Its no looking back, the booming economy has brought cheers all around. Purchasing -power of the Indian has never been so good, at least not in the last fifty - years.



The success of knowledge -based industries, especially Information Technology (IT) and ITES (IT enabled services) has almost wiped out urban employment. With multinational companies falling head over heels looking for space to setup shop in the world's largest democracy, every inch of commercial space india is being sold at a premium.This is a good sign for real estate india.



Land owners whose vacant grounds were not even fit for cattle grazing have now found themselves to be the most sought after individuals. Property brokers would not allow them a peaceful sleep till the disposal of their prized -possession.



According to a report submitted by a leading global real estate consultancy firm ,DTZ Debenham Tie Leung , the estimated demand for office space would be around 150 million sq feet from the top 6 Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad, between 2006-2010 . In the NCR (National Capital Region), Gurgaon led the demands for office space. According to Debenham Tie Leung report, Gurgaon accounted for about 63 % of the total absorption of commercial space in the first six months with a total of 3.2 million sq feet .



Over 4.4 million sq feet of office space has been leased out over the past 12 months. Noida has absorbed approx. 1.4 million sq.feet this year itself. Noida has traditionally housed larger occupier owned operations of 100,000 sq.fet plus.



The demand for commercial space rose in other cities also. In Bangalore, absorption of grade A commercial space in the first seven months of 2006 is seven million sq. feet as against 9.28 million sq, feet in whole of 2005.Although figures in other cities are not as high as Bangalore or NCR but Hyderabad and Kolkata are not far behind.



Suraj Kumar Singh is an associate editor to website http://www.indianground.com providing consultancy for office for sale india since 1997. He has gain proficiency in issues like commercial space india , corporate spaces india . Feedback and queries are welcome at kumarsingh.suraj@gmail.com