Online education firm Byju's has leased office space across an area of about 44,000 square feet (sq ft) in Mumbai’s Andheri East area for Rs 26.86 crore for five years starting January 1, documents accessed by CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm, showed.
The company has paid a total security deposit of Rs 2.43 crore for the two floors. The documents were registered on January 19.
The office space leased from Krishna Developers is furnished and comes with a lock-in period of 18 months and rent escalation of 5% every year.
Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, which does business as Byju's, is yet to respond to queries.
Byju's has taken on lease Part B on third floor across an area of 24,000 sq ft for monthly rent of Rs 22,32,000 for the first year, Rs 23,43, 600 for the second year, Rs 24,60,780 for the third year, Rs 25,83,819 for the fourth year and Rs 27,13,010 for the fifth year, the documents showed.
A security deposit of Rs 13,39,2000 has been paid for the floor which comes with 11 car parkings.
The company has also leased unit numbers 101 to 106 on the first floor across an area of 19,550 sq ft. The floor comes with nine car parkings.
The monthly rent for the first year for this floor is Rs 18,18,150, for the second year Rs 19,09,058, third year Rs 20,04,511, fourth year Rs 21,04,737 and Rs 22,09,974 for the fifth year, the documents showed.
"Large lease transaction by India's top start-up unicorn once again reaffirms our belief that Andheri is the most sought after micro-market in Mumbai for commercial office space for multi-nationals such as BAML, domestic giants such as CRISIL and start-up unicorns such as Byju's," said Abhishek Kiran Gupta, co-founder and CEO, CRE Matrix.
Given the sheer size of the deal, we are not surprised at a sub-100 rupee per month rental. Commercial office property owners felt the heat in years 2020 and 2021 in terms of high vacancy and pressure on rentals, he added.
“We believe the year 2022 will see some respite on the vacancy and rental front but limited to Grade A building where vacancy is in single digit. Pressure on rentals shall remain tight in Grade B buildings. Also, this being Byju's second office space transaction in last six months indicates that the firm is consolidating its Mumbai headquarters in Andheri,” Gupta said.
In October last year, the company had leased office space across 5,701 sq ft in Mumbai’s Andheri East area for Rs 13.9 lakh per month for five years. The transaction was executed and registered on October 13, 2021.
According to Bappaditya Basu, chief business officer - ANAROCK Commercial, Andheri East is a key commercial office destination in Mumbai. Proximity to the airport, excellent road connectivity, and good suburban rail and metro rail connectivity make this a great location for office establishments. It is convenient for employees to commute and so attracting talent is also not a challenge. Also, being close to the de-facto central business district of Mumbai – BKC or Bandra Kurla Complex is an added advantage.
Byju's leasing 43,550 sq ft at Andheri East for a monthly rent of Rs 44.65 lakh per month is a deal concluded as per the ongoing market rates. It already has a presence in Andheri East and this new deal comes in as an expansion plan. Ed-tech companies have flourished in the recent past as the pandemic created an unprecedented crisis and students across the world resorted to online schooling, he explained.
Also, this new method of learning through visualisation has been widely acknowledged by students and parents alike. Moreover, with offerings such as a combination of online and offline learning, ed-tech companies are constantly expanding their new student base, Basu added.
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