Sparked by the rapidly growing freelancers and SME’s in the country, coworking has gained importance amongst small and medium enterprises, freelancers, researchers, writers, designers, remote workers, telecommuters, travellers in the past few years. According to a study conducted by renowned real estate consultancy JLL, coworking as an industry in India is expected to receive $400 million in investments by 2018 and it is expected to grow by 40-50 percent in 2017. With the advent of the start-up movement in India, the commercial real estate sector has become more innovative than it was ever before. The entire innovation can be broadly termed as the “real estate – tech – start-up, because real estate is expensive and start-ups are opting for coworking to enjoy swanky office spaces. Also, a report titled ‘The Art of Coworking by CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd.’ states, with the concept of shared office space fast catching up in India, leasing is expected to touch 10 million sq.ft. by 2020. While the demand tripled in 2016, touching 0.7 million sq.ft. as compared to 2014, this year leasing is expected to cross 1.5 million sq. ft.

Globally, coworking is known for flexible and open ambience that is less formal and hence, more productive and largely acclaimed among young entrepreneurs, freelancers, contract job makers, practicing professionals and supports collaboration, innovation, sharing and candidness. By introducing the same ambience that is less formal and more casual, coworking spaces have revolutionised the corporate culture in the country. The Digital India movement has been boosting the start-up industry majorly in the country. However, this new set of entrepreneur’s work and look at things differently, right from hiring to market positioning and expansion. Consequently, coworking as an idea is working great for the

start-up industry and is gaining popularity amongst the budding entrepreneurs in India. It is turning profitable for the budding entrepreneurs due to its location, accessibility for public transport, affordability and the seating capacity of the space as per its size. It is a key product in the office space market that is here to stay, evolve and act as a good indicator of upcoming demand for developers. The concept is largely helping office real estate sector in India to reform and enter a new era through hot desking trends along with flexible and collaborative solutions.

By introducing the same ambience that is less formal and more casual, coworking spaces have revolutionised the corporate culture in the country

Presently, coworking spaces are popping up across Indian metros as well as Tier-II cities, providing start-ups with flexible working options at affordable rents. The influence of coworking has gone as far as to change the way some traditional real estate users actually use types of space; by adopting some shared resources and offering different working areas within a given space. With the growing coworking spaces in the city, real estate is the latest industry that may undergo a shift in business. With the choices of India’s budding entrepreneurs continuing to have an impact on India’s real estate industry, coworking could be the differentiator in attracting talent.The most significant benefit of a coworking space is the cost saving as compared to a conventional space leasing. In the next couple of years, with the growing number of companies looking to adapt the benefits of coworking and office rents continuing to move up across India, the total space leased by coworking operators in tier-I and tier-II cities could touch six to ten mn sq.ft. by 2020. Thus, coworking spaces are serving as a platform for different individuals to grab opportunities in various fields and showcase their talents. It is also one of the affordable ways for potential entrepreneurs to grow initially with less financial burden and at the same time act as a trend setter for the traditional space owners.

Today there are more than 10,000 coworking centres with a 5 million plus members in India and the commercial real estate industry is gradually shifting from being a space provider to creating experience and community for the next generation. Consequently, entrepreneurs are finding profit in shifting to a coworking space for quite a few reasons whereas the real estate developers are capitalizing on the entire shift. At WeWork, we have observed a shift in how people work these days and believe that the nature of work is changing and so work stations should also change. More people want to work on the projects they are passionate about in an energetic environment where others are also working hard to bring their ideas to life. We truly believe in localizing design and adopting local culture. At WeWork the idea of designs is a way of offering members a reason to stay connected with the community members.