About 160 operators facilitate co-working offices, with over 350 operational centres in the country, across various Tier-I and II cities.

Co-working spaces are furnished and well-equipped offices with open floor plans to encourage interaction and collaboration among various members.

“Start-ups and tech companies are the first ones to pioneer the use of co-working spaces and they continue to dominate the scene at the moment,” said Surabhi Arora, Senior Associate Director - Research, Colliers International India.

“We see maximum concentration of co-working hubs in IT capital Bengaluru, followed by other cities such as NCR and Mumbai. Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad have a relatively smaller share of the co-working industry,” she added.

Going forward, the concentration of co-working hubs is expected to intensify in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurgaon, thanks to the availability of adequate infrastructure and opportunities for start-ups.

Among Tier-II locations, cities that have a presence of technology companies — such as Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Kochi — are expected to witness the emergence of co-working hubs.

According to Arora, flexibility remains the fundamental proposition of newer office typologies, whether it is a serviced office, business centre, incubator or a co-working establishment.

Flexibility makes them suitable for different kinds of occupiers.

The occupiers of small set-ups, employing 25-50 staff, can initially profit from a cost cut of at least 15-30 per cent on capex. Other facilities include office support, flexible membership options, free Wi-Fi and the opportunity to interact with industry experts and investors during networking events, said Arora. In fact, there is a blurred line between a serviced office, a business centre and a co-working space.

“With the entry of international players such as WeWork — which offer serviced offices as well as a co-working space within the same location — this line of distinction will blur further in coming years, and it will be more appropriate to call them flexible office solution providers,” said Arora.

“Also, as India is still on the verge of witnessing international players’ presence, we expect the industry to see much more experimentation regarding amenities.”

According to a Colliers’ survey released in early 2017, co-working spaces leased around 1.2 million square feet in 2016, accounting for 3 per cent of the total office space leasing volume.

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