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IndiQube, a Bengaluru-based workspace management and co-working solutions provider, is planning to add over 10,000 seats annually to the Chennai market over the next two years. The company is betting on the growth of domestic companies and the growing number of global capability centres (GCCs) to drive up the demand for flexible workspaces in the city.
“We are reaching one million sq ft of managed workspace with 20,000 seats in Chennai. We should add 10,000 seats annually to the Chennai market in the next 2 years,” company co-founder and chairman Rishi Das told businessline.
Chennai expansion
IndiQube recently leased out a 1-lakh sq ft property, located right next to Raj Bhavan, to Air India. It also leased out a 1.7-lakh sq ft, 3,000-seater property belonging to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. at the Ekkaduthangal Metro station, which is located close to Chennai’s industrial and software hub of Guindy. “This is the largest managed office in Chennai by any operator, and it is fully leased out,” Das said.
The company has also signed up a property of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce at Chennai’s Anna Salai, and a 30,000 sq ft property at Old Mahabalipuram Road, and a few other properties across the city.
Das said Chennai is a more diversified market, so the demand is not just coming from the IT sector but also from sectors like logistics, engineering, Software-as-a-service (SaaS), and GCCs.
GCCs growth
At a pan-India level, large MNCs, Offshore development centres, and late-stage start-ups contribute 30 per cent each to IndiQube’s total client portfolio. The remaining 10 per cent comes from domestic companies.
“It is these domestic segments, with companies like Air India, UltraTech Cements, and Mahindra Logistics, that are showing faster growth because the domestic economy is doing well,” Das said.
Chennai is already a hotbed for GCCs, with over 150 global players, including Caterpillar, Daimler, the World Bank, Shell, AstraZeneca, and Walmart, setting up offshore centers. Last month, global shipping and logistics firm United Parcel Service (UPS) opened its first India Technology Centre in Chennai, while Roche Pharma India also launched the first Roche customer experience centre in Chennai.
Earlier this year, a JLL-CRE Matrix report said office space absorption in GCCs had crossed 202 million sq ft across the top six cities, including Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
Das said that by the very nature of their business, GCCs are prone to outsourcing, unlike large IT companies, which have their own large campuses. “So, when people look for a distributed workspace, our industry will be the natural choice,” Das said.
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