Bengaluru: US-based Prologis Inc., the world’s largest owner of warehouses, plans to invest around $500 million in India by 2026 to build a large portfolio of warehousing parks in the country.
The company could double its investment in India in the 5-7 years following the initial $500 million outlay, chief investment officer Joseph Ghazal said in an interview. Prologis, which counts Amazon Inc. as its biggest client, plans to build and lease warehousing parks in India as well as develop build-to-suit facilities for customers.
“We have very big growth ambitions for India. The Grade A warehousing market is underserved and there is huge potential for growth,” said Ghazal. “India’s economic growth, regulatory environment, consumption levels, and our customer base here are the driving factors as well. We are here for the long-term.”
Prologis’ plan is to first establish its presence in five major Indian cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
Over the past year, Prologis has acquired three land parcels in India to build warehousing assets—200 acres in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, 40 acres in Hosur, and 30 acres in Hoskote in a joint venture with developer RMZ Corp. Hosur and Hoskote are on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
“Prologis is an integrated platform, which provides design, leasing, property management, customer solutions. The plan is to recreate what we do globally in India,” Ghazal said.
Prologis’ India pipeline
The San Francisco-headquartered Prologis entered India in 2023 after withdrawing plans to operate in the country back in 2007-08 because of the global financial crisis.
Prologis’ global real estate portfolio spanned 1.3 billion sq.ft. with $198 billion assets under management, as on 31 December.
To expand and scale up fast in India, Prologis plans to acquire land and build projects from the ground-up as well as acquire assets.
Vineet Sekhsaria, head of India, Prologis, said construction was underway at the Sriperumbudur and Hoskote sites and would begin shortly at Hosur.
“There are more in the pipeline. We will develop the projects mostly on our own, and will have partners in some. We are open to partnerships to grow and scale,” Sekhsaria added.
Prologis also ventured into data centres a few years ago.
Ghazal said while the company’s focus in India was on its core warehousing and logistics business, it may bring its ancillary businesses to the country in the future.
In India, Prologis will compete with market leader Indospace, Blackstone-owned Horizon Industrial Parks, Ascendas Firstspace, and ESR India among others.
India has a total warehousing stock of about 438 million sq.ft. in its top eight cities, of which around 238 million sq.ft. is Grade A space. Around 100 million sq.ft. of this 238 million sq.ft. is owned by institutional operators and investors, compared with just 28 million sq.ft. in 2019.
“A number of institutional operators and investors are looking at India or are already operational here,” said Chandranath Dey, head (operations and business Development), logistics and industrial, India, at JLL, a property advisory. “The entry of a global leader such as Prologis is a big thing for India’s warehousing sector, and will add a lot of value and credibility.”
