Why India Is The Next Big Thing In The Collaborative Workspace Market

India has emerged as one of the world’s most preferred markets to invest in, thanks to its thriving economy, growing startup ecosystem, and ever-widening talent pool. As businesses, both big and small, continue to mushroom and spread their wings, an expensive real estate along with an acceptance of a new way of working has only spurred the demand for a coworking or a collaborative workspace in India.

For long, the Indian real estate market was restricted to large, fixed office setups, but the high cost of establishing them and the challenges of long-term leases have made it a non-viable option. This is why, today, Indian companies from across the spectrum are warming up to the shared workspace deal. Gone are the days when offices were just about a desk and a chair. Today, workspaces, or rather collaborative workspaces, have shifted the focus to saving time and money, along with creating a community and a culture of working better together.

Looking at the massive potential coworking has, I can say for a fact that India will emerge as one of the largest markets for shared workspaces in the coming years. In fact, we conducted a study with JLL on the coworking revolution, which concluded that the Indian industry is expected to receive $400 Mn in investments by 2018. Isn’t that amazing?

The study also said that millennials will form 50% percent of the global workforce by 2020. It aligns with why collaborative spaces are catching on in India. We are the youngest startup nation in the world with a growing millennial workforce, with the need to build communities.

So, this “anytime, anywhere” offering seems to be working out well for everyone. Today, there is a need for building communities and having a strong work-life culture, and spaces like WeWork are helping fulfill this demand.

Coworking: All About Collaborations And Community

While the concept of coworking spaces first came into being in India because of the startup ecosystem, the good news is that nowadays everyone from freelancers and large enterprises are embracing this revolutionary shift in office dynamics, and with good reason. They don’t have to worry about hefty security deposits, inflexible long-term leases, or unnerving logistics. Instead, companies and their employees have better access to creators, a community, a vibrant work-life culture, at significantly reduced real estate costs.

The coworking concept is hardly new, but what excites me most about it is the tremendous growth it has seen around the globe, especially in India. Today, it’s all about working in an environment that encourages collaboration and boosts employee motivation. Business owners are now realising the potential of shared workspaces and adapting to the idea of a budget-friendly physical workspace where they get tailor-made office solutions and a space to network and collaborate.

The way people work and live in India is undergoing a fundamental shift. The traditional office setup has been deemed as uninteresting and not conducive to creativity and innovation. Instead, people are looking at modern collaborative spaces like WeWork, which foster the idea of establishing a community and a culture.

I mean, imagine a workspace where you could brainstorm over a mug of beer or connect with someone from a completely different industry; it’s a place without hierarchy, where your company size doesn’t matter, and where creativity scores and networking thrives. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.

It’s true — the future of work is changing. Coworking spaces may have a small footprint for now, but they’re slowly carving out a significant space in the real estate industry. Factors such as flexibility, networking opportunities, and cost-effectiveness will only continue to drive demand for collaborative workspaces, they’re resulting in a paradigm shift in the way companies operate. And it bodes well for the startup ecosystem and industries as a whole, because some of the best innovations are the outcome of community collaboration.

Co-working is the new age of workspaces and it’s here to stay in India.