Shared office spaces to boost growth of commercial realty

The start-up ecosystem in the country, which for long depended solely on angel investors and venture capitalists, has today been buoyed by a slew of initiatives like Startup India by the Central government. Along with funding and ease of doing business, a critical factor in creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurial ventures is an office that matches the start-up’s evolving requirements. Flexibility, convenience, technology and cost have been the primary focal areas for start-ups while looking at potential offices. Today, however, with a rise in the number of freelance professionals and small and  medium enterprises, community and collaboration have become integral needs - and collaborative or co-working spaces have become the new buzzword. 

Co-working spaces today are mushrooming across India’s Tier-I and II cities, providing start-ups with flexible working options at affordable prices. These spaces offer desks at cheaper rentals and some also allow a rent-free period to tenants, apart from utilities and an office-like look-and-feel to potential start-ups. Some co-working places also serve as incubation centres for the buildings or campuses they are based in. Interestingly, the trend of start-ups buying or leasing real estate to sub-lease it to such tenants is also on the rise. According to some estimates, the number of such players across India already exceeds 100, and it is growing steadily. 

A number of large corporates interested in providing flexible working options to their millennial employees are also looking at taking up desks in such centres, also known as enterprise space. Business nomads, expats and others travelling to India for work for a few months also prefer such options instead of working out of coffee shops. In fact, some companies now base their client project teams out of co-working places to let them remain close to the clients. 

Co-working office spaces are a natural manifestation of this culture, and business-centric cities can obviously not afford to lag behind on concepts like co-working office spaces.