Warehousing leasing across the top eight markets of India has recorded a historic high in transactions in FY22 at 51.3 million sq ft. Leasing transactions catapulted by 62 per cent YoY surpassing the previous, pre-covid peak, thus setting a fresh benchmark as occupiers revived expansion plans shaking off the last vestiges of the pandemic. While NCR and Mumbai led the market in terms of the overall transaction volumes during FY22, Pune and Hyderabad witnessed the highest percentage growth in annual transacted volumes at 166 per cent and 128 per cent YoY respectively. According to Knight Frank India’s report, ‘India Warehousing Market Report – 2022’, which has also assessed the warehousing activities in 18 secondary markets across India. Almost all sectors have demonstrated phenomenal growth in warehousing demand during FY22. The third-party logistics (3PL) sector, which constituted 31 per cent of all transactions, leased 14.9 mn sq ft of warehousing space, registering a 50 per cent YoY growth. This was followed by ‘other manufacturing’ two sectors and e-commerce. The e-commerce sector grew by 17 per cent YoY in FY22. Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India said, “The high growth rate of organised warehousing sector in India is a result of its rising GDP and consumerism. With warehouse leasing in India surpassing the pre-pandemic level, the sector is poised to take a quantum leap to match its more mature peers around the world. This will be supported by the ever-increasing institutional interest in owning, developing, and operating warehouse assets ensuring professional expertise to direct the course of this growing market as it matures. In terms of investment, the warehousing sector has received private equity of $1.2 billion in H1 2022, as against $1.3 billion that the sector received in the entire year of 2021, adequately demonstrating the confidence global and Indian investors have in the sector’s future.”