E-commerce driving demand for warehousing space: CBRE

E-commerce continues to drive demand for logistics and warehousing space in the country and has attracted a lot of interest from developers and private equity players, property consultant CBRE said.
"With the logistics and industrial segment witnessing significant development, there is a lot of interest from both developers and private equity investment," CBRE South Asia Managing Director, Advisory and Transaction Services, Ram Chandnani said in a statement.
The government's investor-friendly investment policies, improving domestic economy and progressive legislative reforms are all steps boosting the sector, he said at a conference here.
"India is yet to achieve its full potential when it comes to the logistics sector, even though the World Bank has ranked India 35th in logistics.

"China is ranked 27th but India is not too far behind," said M T Murthy, Member (Operations) - India Post, Ministry of Communication and Information.
Stating that lack of adequate infrastructure has slowed down India's economy in the past, Murthy said the government is committed towards capacity building.

E-commerce is playing a major role in driving up the demand in logistics that witnessed a growth of 57 per cent between 2009 and 2015, the statement said.
"India Post now has 700 e-commerce partners who rely on the government for their service delivery," Murthy said.
According to CBRE, nearly 2 million sq ft of warehousing space was taken up by e-commerce firms in 2015, which is a significant jump, as the share of the sector rose from a meagre 2 per cent of the total warehousing demand in 2012, to around 22 per cent during 2015.