HYDERABAD: With not only start-ups, but also big corporates preferring to use co-working spaces, their footprint is growing exponentially in India.
In spite of being a recent phenomenon, shared spaces have caught the fancy of office space-seekers across the country — not just in metros, but even in Tier-2 cities.
“As the demand for shared workspaces is rising, there has been a spurt in shared workspace providers in recent years. Not just the start-ups and small SMEs, but even big MNCs are increasingly opting them. We have several big names like Amazon, Arcelor Mittal, Microsoft and Tata Communications among our clients.
The demand has been so high that we are planning to double our footprint to 2 million sq ft over the next one year,” said Neetish Sarda, founder of Smartworks, a leading co-working space provider.
Industry insiders opine that while co-working spaces are a hit in all the metros, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune have been in the forefront for driving demand for them. According to a recent Knight Frank report, while co-working companies accounted for just under 1.8 mn sq ft of the total 41 mn sq ft of annual commercial office space transactions volume, the expansion plans of major players like Regus, WeWork, Cowrks, Awfis and Smartworks, along with increasing demand for this format from occupiers and property owners is set to triple the co-working space transactions and footrprint in the next three years.
“It’s not just the cost that is acting in favour of shared spaces. Convenience, flexibility, safety and variety offered by co-working spaces is making office space-seekers to rethink their strategy to lease such spaces rather than own or rent the premises. Today, a company can find such spaces in the hotspots of any city, they can get the facility customised. By leasing shared spaces, companies are also relieved of day-to-day management issues of the premises and can focus on their core business,” said Shouvik Mandal, Director, Apeejay Business Centre.