'Corporate real estate occupiers bullish on expanding offices'

Corporate real estate occupiers are bullish on expanding offices across the country in next two years, says a survey by property consultant CBRE. According to the survey, respondents across major industry sectors remained bullish on their India expansion plan and are also likely to increase their headcount by 5-20 percent in the next two years. "The findings of our survey indicate that office occupier sentiment is largely positive towards India's business environment for the next few years," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and Managing Director of CBRE South Asia.

The choice of corporate workplace is being progressively driven by three objectives -- Talent (cost and availability), Infrastructure (physical and social) and Real Estate Options (cost and availability), it pointed out. Respondents of the survey included corporates based across different industry sectors and representatives of typical Indian office space occupiers. IT/ITeS firms are likely to expand operations across leading southern cities while respondents of other key sectors preferred Delhi NCR and Mumbai for future expansions.

Most IT/ITeS firms (about 70 percent) are likely to expand their operations in the southern cities of Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad while media, e-commerce and BFSI respondents (about 55 percent) chose to expand in Delhi National Capital Region and Mumbai in the next two years. Corporate offices are expected to increase headcounts over next two years. Respondents across major industry sectors remained bullish on their India expansion plans and are likely to raise their headcount in the next two years, the survey said.

About 80 percent of respondents from industries such as IT/ITeS, research, consulting and analytics, media, e-commerce and BFSI are aiming for a 20 percent increase in employee headcount over the next two years, it added.