A quarter of total warehousing space absorbed by e-tailers in 2014

Took up approximately 1.7 million sq. ft. of warehousing space across Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and NCR

About 25 per cent of the total warehousing uptake across the country in 2014 was taken up by e-commerce players, said a new study.

According to a report by global consultant CBRE, the emerging retail segment took up approximately 1.7 million sqft of warehousing space across Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR in 2014. It said a major share of fund raising by e-tailers is also expected to get channelised into building warehouses. The year 2014 saw investments worth more than $2.2 billion being raised by e-retail majors in India.

Past couple of years also saw the segment becoming a new addition to the mix of major office space demand drivers in India, as online retailers increased footprint for front-end as well as back-end requirements. By 2014-end, about 3.5 million sqft of office space had either been leased or was in various stages of negotiation by e-commerce firms across the country—a growth of about 400 per cent year-on-year, it said.