BENGALURU: With at least one multi-national company setting up its base in the city every month, Bengaluru has seen a steep growth in demand for office spaces. The city is the top consumer of office spaces (especially beehives) among all the metros in the country, including Mumbai.
While a report by global property consultancy Knight Frank states that the city has recorded a transaction of 11.4 mn sqft of office spaces in 2016, the highest in the last five years, a study by property portal 99acres.com also corroborates this — observing a 35 per cent growth in listings relating to the sector in 2016.
For the last 18 months, there has been at least one Fortune 2000 company setting up its office in Bengaluru.
“These are not just US-based companies but even those from Europe. This is a very interesting and significant trend. These companies are concerned with high-end analytics, robotics and IoT (Internet of Things) sectors,” said Ashok Pamidi of The National Association of Software and Services Companies, Bengaluru.
At the national-level, Bengaluru contributed to 23-24 per cent of the overall demand for office spaces, according to Narasimha Jayakumar, Chief Business Officer of 99 acres.com.
More beehives to come up in the IT hub
While MNCs are creating a demand for Grade A office spaces, the growing number of start-ups are generating a large demand for beehive or co-working spaces.
The city continues to be the most preferred destination for start-ups, a majority of which are not in a position to afford individual spaces.
Typically, three to four offices work out of a building, easing rentals and leases. “Over the past few years, both central and state government policies have encouraged businesses to set up their operations in Bengaluru. A large number of entrepreneurs are embarking on the next big idea, given the favourable start-up ecosystem in the city. This has contributed to a steady growth in the demand for collaborative office spaces.
“Developers are meeting this demand by providing commercial spaces that have a secure environment devoid of administrative challenges, promoting collaboration between disparate groups of people,” according to Rajiv Raichand, director of Virtuous Retail, which operates The Hive co-working space.
‘Supply supersedes demand’
Srinivas S Subedar, operations head of Novel Group, said they have around 800 enquiries per month for office spaces, with at least 50 on an average every day.
“The majority of these queries are from small and medium segment. In this segment in particular, there is a lot more demand than supply and people are able to find office spaces within two or three days,” he said, adding that mid year was usually when they saw a peak in the growth.