As per CBRE South Asia’s latest report- India Market Monitor Q1 2023, the leasing in the industrial and logistics (I&L) sector witnessed a year-on-year (YoY) increase during the January-March, 2023 period to hit 8 million square feet (msf), registering a growth of 26%. Further, the report informed that supply during the quarter increased by 28% YoY to 7.6 msf.
The absorption activity was driven by Delhi-NCR with the leasing of over 1.7 msf, which was followed by Hyderabad at over 1.5 msf and Ahmedabad at more than 1.2 msf. The leasing share of these three cities in total leasing stood at 54%. Additionally, in supply addition, the collective share of Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad was 59% during the quarter.
The report informed that third-party logistics (3PL) had a majority share in leasing at 43% while e-commerce firms’ share improved and stood at 15% during the period. Furthermore, retail & engineering and manufacturing firms, each accounted for about 11%, and automobile & ancillary corporates accounted for 8%. Overall, domestic firms had a 61% share in leasing while American corporations held a share of about 17%.
Mr. Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) India, South-East Asia, Middle-East, and Africa, CBRE, stated a robust leasing momentum is anticipated in the I&L sector in 2023 with a demand of 32-35 msf and growth of 1-5% on an annual basis. In addition, the supply is expected to grow by 15-24% y-o-y to reach 24-26 msf. He predicted that demand from FMCG, retail sector, electronics and electrical sectors will improve further. The third party leasing, engineering and manufacturing sectors will emerge as major players during the current year, he added.
