BENGALURU :
Prime warehousing builders goal to ramp up growth in tier-II areas and inside metros this 12 months for higher attain and to fulfil final mile supply demand led by retail, e-commerce, grocery companies, and third-party logistics suppliers.
Operators and traders akin to ESR, LOGOS, Blackstone-led Horizon Industrial Parks, and Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) are actively eyeing land acquisitions in smaller cities and vying for first mover benefit in organising multilevel in-city logistics hubs.
ESR, which has 17 operational warehousing websites over 18 million sq. ft throughout giant cities, is in superior discussions to amass 3-4 land parcels specializing in tier-II cities. It kicked off its city logistics plan with the acquisition of 8.2 acres in Alipur, Delhi, to arrange a 300,000 sq ft distribution centre to cater to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, cloud kitchen, and different firms.
“2021 was a blended bag, with lot of leasing in e-commerce however slowdown in industrial. Within the final six months gentle manufacturing and industrial sectors have revived. We’re taking a look at vital growth this 12 months, incl-uding in tier-II markets, which have develop into essential due to e-commerce penetration. Our technique could be to construct extra plug-and-play (warehousing) amenities, which assist prospects to go stay in three months,” mentioned Abhijit Malkani, chief government officer (CEO), ESR India.
Warehousing as an actual property asset class has been a singular beneficiary of the pandemic largely due to the e-commerce increase. In keeping with JLL India, the cumulative warehousing provide within the prime 8 cities was 287 million sq ft in 2021-end and is predicted to the touch 500 million sq ft by 2025.
In 2021, logistics operator LOGOS signed 1.8 million sq ft new leases and delivered 2 million sq ft, but it surely couldn’t full some land acquisitions due to challenges that got here on account of the covid-19 pandemic. “We need to broaden in eight cities, but in addition past them and take a look at in-city logistics. The problem in in-city logistics is fragmented actual property possession and excessive values, however we’re eager on exploring the house. There’s demand and it will likely be led by e-commerce and fast commerce companies, however there could also be a constraint in provide,” mentioned Mehul Shah, CEO, LOGOS India. It plans to construct one other 2 million sq ft by 2022-end and should purchase a prepared portfolio of 1 or two million sq ft.
This 12 months, Blackstone mentioned it has arrange a logistics vertical ‘Horizon Industrial Parks’ in India to deal with its present property. This might be scaled up by means of acquisitions and greenfield developments. Over 18-24 months, it plans to double its portfolio in and round giant cities and selectively in smaller cities.
“We goal to purchase land in Siliguri, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar, and Guwahati. We’re exploring in-city improvement however it should take extra time to catch up. The way forward for buying is hybrid, so there could be a whole lot of final mile supply requirement but it surely’s a distinct product,” mentioned Anshul Singhal, managing director, WOLP, which leased 1.8 million sq ft within the final 4 months. “We consider the packaging sector generally is a main demand driver in 2022, whereas leasing by e-commerce companies could reasonable as a result of they’ve dedicated to a whole lot of house final 12 months,” mentioned Chandranath Dey, head of operations, enterprise improvement, logistics and industrial, JLL India.
Supply: Live Mint