 "Real estate")
Bengaluru has remained the top contributor to the demand with 33 per cent share, followed by the National Capital Region (Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida), Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai.
In Bengaluru, 88 per cent of office leasing was done by information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services companies, Colliers said.
Both global and Indian technology companies have done large office deals during January-March 2016.
US-based HP leased nearly 500,000 sq ft in Maruthi Concorde Tower in Electronic City in Bengaluru. When contacted for comments, an HP Enterprise (HPE) spokesperson said :“HPE does not comment on rumour or speculation.”
Another technology giant, IBM, also took 500,000 sq ft in Bhartiya City, an integrated property project at Thanisandra in Bengaluru.
Banking giant JPMorgan has taken up 200,000 sq ft in Embassy Golf Links Business Park on Intermediate Ring Road in Bengaluru. It is expected to use its space for its technology support centre.
Leading e-commerce player Amazon has committed huge investments to set up its largest facility outside the US and leased approximately 350,000 sq ft at Raheja Mindspace in HITEC City, Hyderabad.
Apple Inc is also set to open its first technology development centre in India. It has leased 250,000 sq ft at Tishman Speyer's Waverock SEZ in Hyderabad.
Realty consultants say many global IT majors are looking to take up large space in India. According to them, Cognizant is looking at taking one million sq ft office, Microsoft is eyeing 1.1 million sq ft and IBM plans to take up 1.5 million sq ft every year in the country. None of these companies responded to mails sent by Business Standard.
Among domestic companies, Infosys, the country’s second largest software exporter, has taken up 620,000 sq ft office space on lease in Juniper Tower in International Tech Park Pune run by Singapore developer Ascendas in Hinjewadi Phase III. This is the biggest office leasing deal in the city this year.
The IT bellwether also took up 150,200 sq ft space in the Confident Octans project in Electronics City in Bengaluru.
In January this year, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s biggest software exporter, has picked up nearly 1.9 million square feet of office space in Mumbai developer Hiranandani’s commercial project in Thane. TCS has inked a 15-year lease deal with a reset clause that will set in every three years. The annual lease rental for the property is to the tune of Rs 100-120 crore.
“Strong positive absorption from technology firms helped further gains in occupancy in almost all the cities. The sector was well supported by positive economic sentiments; business confidence index was up five per cent in January 2016 and the GDP was forecast at 7.5 per cent,” said Surabhi Arora, senior associate director at Colliers International.
According to Raj Menda, executive chairman at RMZ Corp, a Bengaluru-based office developer, companies are sending tougher and more critical works to India with the quality of manpower improving. Traditionally, companies retained such complex tasks in their home countries.
“Due to this build-up of high and skilled work force, which is comparatively cheaper in India, companies now look at increasing their head count in India,” Menda added.
According to experts, heavy demand from tech companies has pushed up rents.
“Rents have seen notable appreciation in this category in select markets, where the availability of office space is limited. Healthy demand along with favourable IT industry growth rates has helped this rental appreciation. We believe the trend is likely to persist for some more time,” said Anuj Puri, chairman, JLL India.
BIG OFFICE SPACE LEASING DEALS
-
US based HP leased nearly 500k sq ft in Maruthi Concorde Tower in Electronic City in Bengaluru
-
Banking giant JP Morgan took up 200k sq ft in Embassy Golf Links Business Park on Intermediate Ring Road in Bengaluru
-
Amazon leased approximately 350k sq ft in Raheja Mindspace in HITEC City in Hyderabad
- Phonemaker Apple Inc leased 250k sq ft in Tishman Speyer's Waverock SEZ in Hyderabad
