Materials in a warehouse – The Hindu

A warehouse

M. Soundariya Preetha

India’s industrial and warehousing market is entering a phase of accelerated transformation driven by policy push, infrastructure augmentation, evolving consumer behavior, supply-chain recalibration and rapid technology adoption, says a report by Colliers.

Over 100 cities were assessed to determine their attractiveness for industrial and warehousing growth over the next five to six years based on factors such as maturity of industrial ecosystem, presence of established manufacturing clusters, stage of infrastructure project completion, and proximity to multimodal infrastructure, said a press statement on the report titled “India’s Emerging Industrial and Warehousing Corridors: Mapping the Next Growth Frontier”.

The geographical spread of 30 high potential industrial and warehousing hotspots, in the prime, emerging and nascent categories, highlights equitable growth across the country. The eight “Prime hubs” identified in the report are already established demand centres and are expected to mature further. The 12 “Emerging hubs” are likely to gain significant momentum over the course of next few years as critical industrial corridors, logistics parks, and multi-modal hubs that are near completion. The 10 “Nascent hubs” are represented by cities where the impact will start to pick pace gradually and depend on enablers such as core infrastructure adequacy, policy support and investor readiness.

According to the report, Chennai is among the prime warehousing hubs in country, Coimbatore is an emerging hub, and Hosur is a nascent hub in Tamil Nadu.

The manufacturing sector that contributes to almost 17 % of the GDP is projected to increase its share to approximately 25% by 2035. Thus, the industrial and warehousing sector is emerging as a high-growth frontier.

Multiple cities in the country are likely to emerge as front-runners of industrial and warehousing growth over the course of next few decades driven by continued regulatory support through corridor development programmes, PM Gati Shakti programme, National Logistics Policy, and so on. Upcoming industrial smart cities, proposed Multi-Modal Logistics Parks, expansion of sea and airport linkages, and development of large integrated textile hubs will support the growth of the industrial and warehousing sector.

“The recent budget has prioritised economic growth dispersion by emphasising the need for enhancement in domestic manufacturing capabilities. Additionally, the allocation of ₹5,000 crore per City Economic Regions (CER) and focused interventions across key sectors such as life sciences, electronics, semiconductors, chemicals, rare earth minerals, and textiles can boost long-term warehousing growth in the established markets and simultaneously open up investments in multiple emerging and nascent markets”, said Vijay Ganesh, Managing Director, Industrial & Logistics Services, Colliers India, in the statement.

Demand traction is expected to be driven by the government’s focus on domestic manufacturing and enhancements in regional connectivity through upcoming expressways, freight and industrial corridors, logistics parks, greenfield sea and airports. The annual Grade A space uptake is expected to breach 50 million sq ft across the prime hubs and simultaneously create newer investment opportunities in multiple emerging as well as nascent markets.

The growth of the industrial and warehousing market will be characterised by greater efficiency, automation, supply chain integration, sustainability and technology adoption, the report said.