Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/the-executive-centre-to-invest-rs-100-cr-on-setting-up-5-new-co-working-facilities-in-india/1994532/

The company is bullish on the demand for flexible office space post COVID-19 pandemic as corporates will look to cut capital expenditure on setting up their own offices, TEC Managing Director-South Asia Nidhi Marwah said in an interview.

Hong Kong-based The Executive Centre (TEC), which provides premium serviced office space, will invest over Rs 100 crore to open five new centres in India as part of its expansion plan, a top company official said. TEC, which entered India in 2008 with its first property in Mumbai, currently has around 30 centres, spread over 8 lakh sq ft with a capacity of 8,000 desks, across major cities.

The company is bullish on the demand for flexible office space post COVID-19 pandemic as corporates will look to cut capital expenditure on setting up their own offices, TEC Managing Director-South Asia Nidhi Marwah said in an interview.

When asked about the impact of the nationwide lockdown on the company’s business, she said,”There has been very little impact on the company’s revenue as most of our clients are large corporate firms”.

On future expansion, Marwah said: “We are opening five new centres at Bengaluru, Gurugram, Chennai and Pune. We have already taken on lease nearly 2 lakh sq ft area of office space to start these facilities.” These five centres, which have a capacity of around 2,300 desks, would become operational by March next year, she said.

“We will invest over Rs 100 crore as capex to set up these five centres,” Marwah said, adding that the capital expenditures would mostly be on creating physical and IT infrastructure.

Marwah said the company’s revenue stood at around USD 35 million during the last financial year and will grow further with opening of new facilities. The Executive Centre is Asia Pacific’s leading premium serviced office provider. It?has over 135+ centres in 32 cities and 14 countries with an annual turnover in excess of USD 275 million.

Co-working or flexible workpsace space segment has grown rapidly in India in the last 3-4 years and industry experts believe that the trend is likely to continue despite the short-term disruption caused by lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus disease.

According to a Cushman and Wakefield report released in November last year, the demand for flexible workspace in India is estimated to jump five times by 2025 to 130-140 million sq ft.

There are 1,000 operational co-working centres, with a capacity of over 4 lakh seats, across the top six cities — Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The number of flexible space operators has risen from single digits to about 350 over the last 3-4 years.

The consultant had said that 65-70 per cent of demand for co-working spaces comes from large corporates, 15-20 per cent from small & medium enterprises and 10-15 per cent from freelancers and startups.