IT took up 80-90% of Bangalore's commercial space

Bangalore's IT and ITeS companies may keep complaining about the city's crumbling infrastructure, but it has not deterred the growth in commercial real estate. The city is way ahead as the top IT and ITeS destination in India, sectors that absorbed 6.93 million sq ft of commercial space in 2004.

Bangalore's poor infrastructure had attracted a lot of media attention last year after IT and ITES companies threatened to move to other destinations.

In this context, it is noteworthy that Bangalore has managed to remain a favourite destination in comparison to the National Capital Region (NCR "" includes Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida), Mumbai and its southern counterparts Hyderabad and Chennai, according to real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield's year-end report.

Almost 80-90 per cent of the commercial space was absorbed by IT and ITeS companies last year.

In 2004, the entire commercial space absorbed in India was 16 million sq ft, which was predominantly contributed by Bangalore at 7.7 million sq ft, followed by NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

NCR, which was a distant second, managed to absorb 2.90 million sq ft as commercial space, while Mumbai absorbed 2.50 million sq ft of commercial space. Hyderabad and Chennai had absorbed 2.20 million sq ft and 1.60 million sq ft respectively.

Chanakya Chakravathi, joint managing director, Cushman and Wakefield told Business Standard though companies do find the infrastructure problems a hurdle to set up shop, it has not deterred IT and ITeS companies in finding Bangalore a suitable destination.