Wipro’s leased office space rises to 1.5 mn sqft, mostly in Mumbai, Gurugram

Wipro

Wipro has recorded an increase of 1.5 million square feet in leased office space in Mumbai and Gurugram, a top official said, hinting at a spurt in demand.

The IT major has most of its campuses in Bengaluru where it has the option to expand. "Where we do not have campuses, such as in Mumbai and Gurugram, we look at more leasing," Dinesh Wadehra, global operations head at Wipro, said at the RICS India CRE & FM Conference.

The increase in leased space assumes significance as Wipro’s rental expenses jumped almost 16 percent to over Rs 4,800 crore in 2023-24, according to its latest annual report. Lease expenses include rent and interest paid on lease liabilities. The Bengaluru-headquartered company’s net profit for FY24 stood at Rs 11,045 crore, while its revenue for the year came in at Rs 89,760 crore.

This rise in lease expenses in FY24 follows an over 20 percent surge in the previous fiscal year at over Rs 4,169 crore. Wadehra did not share the lease figures for the previous years.

He further said that the company has about 42 campuses in India. “The idea is to see that those (42 campuses) get filled first before I take space outside… Otherwise (we are) staying in the campuses. That’s the mantra.”

Wadehra, who has worked in real estate companies like JLL India and Cushman and Wakefield for over 13 years, said Wipro had toyed with the idea of strengthening its presence in Tier-II cities, but it failed to take off. The reason is that most of its employees didn’t want to work from their hometowns. “They all want to be out of home,” he said in jest.

Wipro paid a little over Rs 1,000 crore as lease liabilities, according to its Cash Flow statement.

Also read: Domestic companies make up nearly half of office space leasing since 2022, shows report