Office space leasing in Kolkata stood at 1.3 million square feet in 2024, which was marginally up from 1.2 million square feet in 2023 in the city, according to Real estate consultant CBRE South Asia.

CBRE, in its latest report, said during October-December, 2024 leasing activity in Kolkata was driven by IT sector, which accounted for 52 per cent of the total absorption in the city during the quarter last year. The technology sector led absorption with a 35 per cent share, followed by the automobile and research, consulting, and analytics sectors.

Key transactions recorded during October-December last year in the city were–Concentrix leased 43,000 square feet in DLF IT Park, Visteon leased 20,000 square feet in DLF SEZ and Surbana Jurong leased 6,700 square feet in Acropolis.

“The year 2024 was a pretty good year for the overall economy and both residential and commercial real estate sectors riding high on the growing demand, economic growth overall prosperity and growing disposable income in the hands of middle class and by sustained demand from a broad range of industries,” Sushil Mohta, President, CREDAI West Bengal, told businessline.

Mohta, also the Merlin Group Chairman, said the commercial real estate market in Kolkata witnessed an impressive growth in 2024 with office leasing and gross leasing volumes reaching high. The coming of Infosys campus in the city also boosted IT sector’s growth in West Bengal.

Record leasing

“The record leasing in Q4 attributed to the IT sector. Kolkata has already been seen as the next IT hub after Bengaluru and Hyderabad and Pune. The State Government’s effort to attract international businesses to the city are driving growth of the commercial real estate market in Kolkata,” he pointed out.

The Merlin group is developing The World trade Centre which will be the biggest IT park with F&B and retail facility in the Eastern India.

“This upbeat outlook about office space will continue to reign in the year 2025 too. Besides IT, sectors such as technology and BFSI would further influence office leasing trends,” Mohta added.

Real estate major DLF in November last year said one of its subsidiaries entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Kolkata Tech Park 1 business undertaking to RDB Primarc Techno Park, an affiliate of Primarc and RDB groups, on a slump sale basis for a consideration of around Rs 637 crore.

Kolkata Tech Park 1 is one of the largest IT park in eastern India with gross leasable area of around 1.49 million square feet.

On the development, Sidharth Pansari, Managing Director of Primarc Group, had said, “We are excited about this transaction which is a pivotal step in our growth and diversification journey. It strengthens our contribution to Bengal’s tech ecosystem, and we will benefit immensely from DLF’s learnings, systems & processes.”

“This step strengthens our joint commitment to supporting Bengal’s dynamic economy through projects that prioritise both sustainability and excellence,” Vinod Dugar, promoter of RDB Group, had added.