Serviced & virtual offices space seen clipping at 25% annually

With more and more corporates and entrepreneurs opting for unique solutions to meet their office space needs, serviced and virtual offices sector is expected to grow by up to 25% year-on-year, according to experts.

'Serviced office' is an office/ office building fully managed by a facility management company, which rents individual offices or floors to others.

"Serviced offices are popular among new companies and SMEs as it provides them flexible working conditions. Such set-ups also help companies in managing spendings, especially, when they cannot project growth," property consultant Knight Frank India's director - occupier solutions Viral Desai said.

Domestic players like Vatika, Apeejay, Stylus and global companies like Regus, Imperial Servcorp and Avanta are in this business.

"This concept picked up mainly during recessions," he said.

Currently, the serviced and virtual offices market is estimated to be around $700 million, Regus India CEO Sahil Verma said.

"At present, this market is at a very nascent stage, but it works best in times of turnover pressure. It offers saving to the clients, as they do not have to spend on renting a property and setting up office infrastructure. We expect this market to grow by 21-25% every year," Verma said.

So far, this model has been preferred by multinationals who are planning to set up businesses in the country, but now even domestic firms are adopting it.

Currently, there are around 80-100 such centres across the country, Imperial Servcorp India country head Meenal Sinha said.

"Earlier, serviced offices were largely concentrated in the large six-seven cities. But with the growing demand, it has expanded to small towns and cities as well. These centres can offer small entrepreneurs and SMEs best location to meet their needs at affordable rates," she said.

Clients can take advantage of the addresses of the service provider utilising it on business cards and letterheads, be assisted by a dedicated receptionist who will answer calls in their company name or gain international access to boardrooms and meeting rooms, Sinha said.

Desai also observed that for large corporates, mainly the IT and ITeS sectors where the attrition rates are high, such a model can work best as it will give the employees the convenience of walk-to-work.