India's warehousing sector will get a boost in Tier 2 and 3 cities

The demand for small and multi-location warehouses likely to rise and most of these clusters are with the industrial and freight corridors

- V Nagarajan

High-intensity focus on making India a global manufacturing hub has caused warehousing clusters to expand rapidly beyond the top cities and into Tier 2 and 3 cities, according to ‘Indian Industrial & Logistics Gearing Up a Global Manufacturing Hub’, a joint report by US-based Binswanger Commercial Real Estate Services and ANAROCK group.

The report says that demand for small and multi-location warehouses is expected to rise significantly. Most of these emerging clusters are aligned with the industrial and freight corridors being developed in the country.

The emerging tier 2 and 3 warehousing clusters include Ludhiana, Ambala, Lucknow, Siliguri, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Kochi, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur, and Dholera.

“The rising demand for Grade A warehousing properties across the country is a key trend. Our data indicates that there is more than 110 million sq. t. of Grade A warehousing stock available across the country — most of it in the top 8 cities. 3PL (third-party logistics) and e-commerce are the largest occupiers of warehousing space.

There is a massive opportunity for Grade A warehousing development in the smaller cities amidst rising demand”, said Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO, ANAROCK Capital.