Navi Mumbai is steadily becoming a major commercial hub in India on account of several factors. These include its easy proximity to major cities like Pune and Mumbai and well-planned infrastructure. Rentals for offices are relatively affordable here while there is ample availability of land and a skilled workforce. Several large companies are now choosing to establish back-end offices at Navi Mumbai on account of these factors. Navi Mumbai is one of the most coveted destinations for real estate developers and corporate companies when it comes to developing industrial parks and office hubs after well-established commercial office zones in Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore.
As per reports, approximately 8 million sq. ft. of office space is expected to be developed in Navi Mumbai over the next 4-5 years and this will be spread across non-IT and IT parks alike CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra) has the responsibility for the development of Navi Mumbai and has reportedly planned to come up with a 120 hectare corporate park located at Kharghar. This will reportedly be twice the overall size of the BKC (Bandra-Kurla Complex) which is currently Mumbai’s numero uno CBD.
Navi Mumbai already has operational commercial space of approximately 18 million sq. ft. as per reports. CIDCO has already been finalizing the planning and architectural aspects of its Kharghar business park. Edifice Consultants Private Limited has been brought on board for designing this mega development. CIDCO already runs two fully occupied IT parks at present which cumulatively offer 1.6 million sq. ft. in office space at Belapur and Vashi. Experts also feel that the demand will increase in the future for office space due to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport and improvements in road and railway connectivity.
Absorption of office space in Navi Mumbai has reportedly increased to 1-1.5 million sq. ft. from 300, 000 sq. ft. over the last 5 years or so. Two office buildings that are under construction have been snapped up for Rs. 930 crore by Ascendas Singbridge from Singapore from Aurum Venture, a realty player which is building the Q PARC IT Park covering 5 million sq. ft. at Ghansoli. K Raheja Corp already runs three IT Parks under its Gigaplex and Mindspace brands and is looking at adding another 2-3 million sq. ft. to the office portfolio in Navi Mumbai.
There are more than 70 reputed IT and financial companies which function out of these IT Parks including L&T Infotech, UBS, Accenture, Capgemini and Axis Bank among others. MNCs have been viewing Navi Mumbai favorably over the last 2-3 years as per experts and rental prices are already increasing to Rs. 50-52 per sq. ft. from Rs. 27-28 per sq. ft. around 6-7 years earlier as per reports. Raheja Universal is developing its very first commercial office project and is planning to establish the Raheja District which is a mixed-use office park that offers 15 million sq. ft. of space at Juinagar. The office park covers 100 acres and will also contain the WTC (World Trade Centre) towers.
Panchshil Realty from Pune and Embassy Group from Bangalore have already been looking for space in the region for developing industrial and IT parks. IKEA and Foxconn, among other global biggies, are already coming to the region in the near future. Foxconn has already leased close to 2 lakh sq. ft. in Raheja District for establishing its facility for mobile phone assembling. IKEA will also be opening its second Indian store at Navi Mumbai by investing in around Rs. 1, 000 crore. Experts feel that Navi Mumbai land prices are still on the reasonable side in comparison to other major IT corridors in India and the average range for land deals in Navi Mumbai comes to approximately $1 million per acre. This makes it a highly attractive market for large corporates. The boom in the commercial real estate sector is rubbing off favorably in the residential real estate market in Navi Mumbai. Major projects like Arihant Arshiya, Indiabulls Greens and Unimont Empire are already attracting buyers in large numbers.
