Amazon.com, the US-based online retailers are set to pick 4 million square feet (m sq ft) of built-to-suit office space in Bengaluru. It is said to be the largest single office space transaction in India in terms of area.
Amazon already occupies over 5 million sft of office space in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Gurugram, and has been serving the rest of the world from India. As per the people aware of this deal, the request for proposal (RFP) has been floated for 5 million sq ft, but the office part will occupy only 4 million sft. Bids have started to come in and will take at least 2-3 months to close. Once the deal is confirmed, Amazon will be the fourth largest office space occupier in India.
“We do not comment on what we may or may not do in the future,” an Amazon spokesperson said. In the past three years, it has rented 2.7 m sq ft in Bagmane constellation in Bengaluru, 700,000 sq ft in Brigade World Trade Centre, 500,000 sq ft in TRIL Chennai and 2m sq ft campus in Hyderabad. “Amazon usually follows a 1:120 sq ft ratio per employee. The new facilities can seat around 33,000 employees once completely operational,” said one of the people.
Bengaluru has been successful in retaining its top position as India’s healthiest office space market due to the availability of technology talent, a well-entrenched R&D ecosystem, and lower costs. Also, the big technology firms like Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Google also have their offices in the city.
The main aim of Amazon behind the purchase of this office space is to grow in India and also cater to its global operations. The new office will support technological development along with the back-end operations of Amazon’s global business. It will also be used in developing newer products for the company.
At 155 m sq ft, the city has the largest office stock in the country, with more than 30 m sq ft due for completion before 2021, according to industry tracker CBRE.