New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) With about 20 million square feet of leasing activity in January-June period (H1 2025) at 33 per cent growth, industrial and warehousing demand across the top eight cities remained robust, according to a report on Thursday.

Delhi-NCR and Chennai led the demand, cumulatively accounting for about half of the overall leasing in H1 2025.

Interestingly, among the top eight cities, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru saw impressive demand of at least 2 million square feet during the first half of the year, according to the Colliers report.

Third Party Logistics (3PL) players continued to be the primary drivers of space uptake in Grade A warehouses and industrial sheds, contributing to about 32 per cent share in overall demand during the first half of the year.

In fact, demand from most occupier segments including 3PL, engineering, e-commerce, automobile, and retail firms rose significantly during H1 2025. Meanwhile, at the micro market level, warehousing space uptake was the highest in Bhiwandi (Mumbai) at 3.1 mn sq ft followed by Oragadam (Chennai) at 1.5 mn sq ft.

“During the second quarter of 2025, industrial and warehousing sector saw about 11 mn sq ft of demand across the top eight cities, a 52 per cent rise YoY. Notably, Q2 recorded the highest quarterly gross absorption in the last few years,” said Vijay Ganesh, Managing Director, Industrial and Logistics Services, Colliers India.

The growth momentum is likely to remain unabated in the forthcoming quarters, setting the stage for a strong performance in 2025, Ganesh added.

During the first half of 2025, third-party logistics (3PL) players continued to dominate demand, accounting for around one-third of the leasing activity.

Concurrently, space uptake by other occupier segments such as engineering, e-commerce and automobile were also notable, with each segment accounting for 2-4 mn sq ft of space take up, during H1 2025.

“While 3PL players continue to lead overall demand, engineering, e-commerce and automobiles, segments have been steadily gaining traction over the last few quarters. Each of these three segments accounted for around 10-20 per cent of the Grade A space uptake in H1 2025,” said Vimal Nadar, National Director and Head of Research, Colliers India.

—IANS

na/