Co-working space developer Smartworks expands Bengaluru operations; now offers a million sq ft country-wide

India has seen a surge in shared workspace providers in recent years. The demand for co-working spaces is increasing. Start-ups and SMEs could save as much as 15–20 percent by working out of a co-working space, while enjoying the benefits of a plug-and-play modern office.

Lots of investments are being made into co-working space and several start-ups are looking to expand with their alliance with builders, according to a Knight Frank report.

The player to expand its footprint lately is Smartworks, which has opened a new facility in Bengaluru with a footprint of three lakh square feet and 6,000 seats. That takes the company’s total office space to 10 lakh square feet across India. The company’s plan is to grow its footprint by nearly 400 percent with new centres in other Tier-1 cities: Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. With the Bengaluru launch, Smartworks now operates 15 centers in India, across nine cities, namely, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad. [caption id=“attachment_4455213” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image of a shared work space. Reuters[/caption] Besides Bengaluru, Smartworks is expanding in Chennai due to the rising demand there, a company statement said. The first facility in Chennai in Guindy was booked out 100 percent within two months of its launch which led to the new 1,500 seater facility in OMR across 85180 sq. ft. area which has been presold 50 percent prior to its launch, the company claimed. Similarly, the Hyderabad facility has also been presold 50 percent, owing to an increased demand for workspaces in southern states of India. While in Mumbai, the company is adding another 900 seat capacity centre in Fleet House, in addition to the facility at Indiabulls in Lower Parel and Hyderabad next to be launched soon. Neetish Sarda, Founder, Smartworks, said: “With our upcoming expansions, we are reaching exponential growth levels, both in terms of revenue and office experience for our employees. Competition Besides Smartworks, the other players in this space include WeWork, Office Pass, Awfis, myHQ, AltfCoworking, amongst others. On an average, in the NCR, the cost per seat per month in a co-working centre in the Delhi central business district (CBD) is in the range of Rs 10,000–15,000, while in the Gurugram CBD it is Rs. 12,500–15,000 in CBD Gurugram. With prime rentals in Gurugram averaging Rs 250 per sq ft per month, an office space of 700 sq ft, housing 10 employees, would cost a whopping Rs 75,000 per month. Currently, the NCR and Mumbai figure prominently on the seat availability front, followed by cities such as Bengaluru and Kolkata. Mumbai accounts for a substantial amount of transactions as well, the Knight Frank report said.