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NCR records 7.2 million sq ft office leasing in H1 2025

NCR records 7.2 million sq ft office leasing in H1 2025

Time of India2 days ago
NEW DELHI: The National Capital Region (NCR) has outperformed other Indian cities in both commercial and residential real estate in the first half of 2025, with a record-breaking 7.2 million sq ft of office space leased and a steep rise in ultra-luxury home sales, according to
Knight Frank India
's latest report.
Office Market: Strongest Leasing Momentum Ever Recorded in NCR
NCR's office leasing rose by 27% year-on-year, hitting an all-time high, underlining the region's growing importance as a commercial hub. Gurugram, often seen as NCR's corporate epicentre, accounted for an overwhelming 65% of the total office leasing during the period—a sharp rise of 900 basis points compared to the same period last year.
Notably, the demand wasn't just driven by India-facing enterprises. Global Capability Centres (GCCs)—companies that provide support services to global operations—ramped up their share of office leasing in NCR to 31% in H1 2025, equal to that of domestic firms. This indicates a rising confidence among global firms in NCR's talent pool and infrastructure readiness.
The average rental value for office space in the region jumped 8% year-on-year to ₹93.5 per sq ft per month. Delhi's Central Business District remained the costliest, commanding rentals between ₹220 and ₹390 per sq ft per month. In Gurugram, Golf Course Road and Cyber City continued to dominate both demand and pricing.
About 4.1 million sq ft of new supply was added across NCR during the same period, but the supply-demand gap for quality Grade A offices remains evident, prompting upward pressure on rents.
Residential Market: Luxury Segment Shines Amid Overall Dip
On the residential side, while overall sales and launches dipped slightly, the market story was driven by rising aspirations and a growing appetite for premium living.
Housing sales across NCR stood at 26,795 units in H1 2025, marking an 8% year-on-year drop. New launches also saw a decline of 17%, totalling 25,233 units. Yet, within this subdued environment, the luxury housing segment recorded unprecedented activity.
Sales of homes priced above ₹2 crore surged, accounting for 57% of total sales—up from 43% in H1 2024. Even more striking was the growth in ultra-luxury homes priced above ₹50 crore, where sales increased by a staggering 2,550% year-on-year. These marquee transactions were largely concentrated in Gurugram, reaffirming its position as NCR's high-end residential capital.
The city alone contributed 51% to total housing sales and 55% to fresh supply, with sectors along Golf Course Extension Road, Southern Peripheral Road, and Dwarka Expressway witnessing heightened traction.
Noida and Greater Noida together formed 30% of NCR's home sales, bolstered by infrastructure upgrades such as the ongoing work on the Noida International Airport in Jewar and metro expansions. The increased demand in these regions was predominantly in the mid to upper-mid segments.
Residential prices across NCR averaged ₹5,535 per sq ft in H1 2025, reflecting a healthy 14% year-on-year increase. While the premium and luxury segments gained momentum, the affordable housing category (₹25–50 lakh) saw sales drop by 37%—a result of price escalations, land cost pressures, and tighter home loan dynamics.
Shift in Buyer Sentiment and Developer Strategy
What's emerging clearly is the buyer shift towards larger homes with better amenities, especially post-pandemic. Developers, in response, are increasingly launching high-ticket projects tailored to aspirational urban families and NRIs.
Knight Frank's findings reflect a maturing market where both end-users and investors are focusing on long-term value. The rise of demand in studio apartments, branded residences, and gated communities equipped with health and wellness features also signal changing buyer preferences.
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Quality Control Orders expanded from 14 to 156 in a decade: Minister
Quality Control Orders expanded from 14 to 156 in a decade: Minister

Hans India

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  • Hans India

Quality Control Orders expanded from 14 to 156 in a decade: Minister

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Govt should greenlight CSR spending on tech innovation: Sumit Tayal, CEO, Give
Govt should greenlight CSR spending on tech innovation: Sumit Tayal, CEO, Give

Indian Express

time14 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Govt should greenlight CSR spending on tech innovation: Sumit Tayal, CEO, Give

Sumit Tayal is the CEO of Give, a digital-first platform that helps Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) teams at companies and individual donors give to non-profits in India. Give, via its Give Grants division, connects institutional donors, companies, and foundations with non-profits, while connects individual small donors with non-profits. Give Discover provides credible information on all stakeholders in the CSR and non-profit ecosystem. Sumit was earlier the COO of Netscribes, a global data and insights firmPrior to it, he was the director at Helix Investments, an India-focussed private equity fund. Sumit is an engineering graduate from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. Sumit spoke to on the challenges companies face in spending their CSR funds on tech innovation, the state of the CSR system in India, and what the government could do to change the situation. Edited excerpts: Sumit Tayal: There are 27,000 companies that file for CSR in India. There are around 200 companies at the top end of the CSR ecosystem whose spending is around Rs 15,000 crore, which is around 50 per cent of the total CSR spending in India. I estimate that somewhere around 20 per cent of them would be utilising tech platforms to manage, track, and monitor their projects. A lot of work still happens through email and Excel sheets. Another 20 per cent would be using a patchwork of tech systems, using them for finance, procurement, or other functions. The next 800 companies in the top 1000 use a bare modicum of tech. You might get the impression that 40% of the top 200 use tech in at least some form. But then, what are they using? They are perhaps using some kind of project management software. So, they are using tech platforms for CSR fund allocation or monitoring, and not necessarily for driving innovation. We at Give have set benchmarks in the ecosystem in many ways, especially to make giving simple and trustworthy. We have built systems and processes to do due diligence on non-profits and only then onboard them on our platform. We also check if the work that was intended is happening on the ground. There are two parts, one for individual donors to donate to causes that they are passionate about, and for corporates to deploy their CSR funds effectively. For instance, last year, around one lakh online donors donated to around 600 non-profits through our platform. All these donors found us online. Our processes are tech-driven. It is like an online consumer-facing platform, and the entire crowdfunding cycle is fully automated, from how non-profits get onboarded to how campaigns are created, shared, and promoted across social media and online platforms. Our interactions with non-profits are, however, offline and will continue to be so. There will always be an offline part, as finally, what we are working for is creating an impact on the ground, where we reach out to hundreds of non-profits individually every year to collect data on how the money was used. There are impact reports. A lot of that collection may be digital, but it still has high manual effort because a large majority of non-profits who are operating on the platform are relatively small without tech support. Sumit Tayal: We started the reports last year, and it is now an annual feature. In 2024, India completed ten years of CSR. It is the only country in the world that has made legally mandated CSR work on this scale. So, it was a milestone year and was completely missing from the popular narrative around CSR. Last year, we spoke to companies about CSR spending, and this year, the survey team also interacted with non-profits that are the implementers of CSR. The key takeaways of the report are that CSR is the dominant source of money in the Indian giving space, and it will only become more dominant in the years to come as it is tied to corporate profits. Secondly, more than half of all Indian non-profits now derive more than half of their total annual budgets from CSR. So, this is the largest force shaping the private giving scenario in India. Thirdly, all Indian CSR is merely one per cent of the Indian government's social spending. Not the government's total budget, but the government's social spending. So, it is too much to expect that CSR alone can make wonders. Importantly, in the report, we have asked corporates about how they view spending on tech innovation, and we have some interesting insights. We found that CSR is highly regulated and compliance-heavy; therefore, risk appetite is low. Even today, the CSR law holds directors individually responsible for any errors, omissions, non-compliance, and so on. So, CSR leaders must be very cognisant of compliance and cannot take bold calls beyond a point. Tech innovation is risky and hence a low priority. Corporates don't want to be in a situation where they are sitting on a bunch of tech projects that have not delivered any results. Delivery is key in the CSR system. Because that's how success is viewed. CSRs prefer to fund programmes that have some proof of concept already established. They are willing to scale what works. They are not the venture capitalists or the angel funders. It is not that CSR leaders do not want to experiment, but the acceptability of risky projects at the board level and their likely negative impact on compliance weighs on their minds. Sumit Tayal: The top 200 corporates are collectively spending Rs 15,000 crore on CSR. If you look at the number of companies that may be funding tech innovation in some way, it is our guesstimate that 30% of these (around 60 companies with an aggregate spending of Rs 4,500 crore annually) collectively spend around Rs 250 crore on tech innovation. Companies have focused on funding startup incubators and accelerators at colleges and universities, academic research, and some of them might be funding some early pilot tech innovation work. But in their individual portfolios, it is unlikely that funding for tech innovation will be more than five per cent of their total spend. So, for tech innovation, particularly for tech for social impact, it could be around Rs 250 crore. These are broad estimates. There is a high acceptance of funding government-approved incubators and accelerators, and the reason for that is that the CSR law explicitly says that funding for these incubators and accelerators is eligible under the CSR law. What it does is it allows the corporates to work with reputed institutes like IIMs or IITs. They also fund academic research being done by credible institutes. So, BITS Pilani or the IITs are all now able to access CSR funding. The third aspect that gets funded is if the company is already working with a non-profit, they are open to funding tech pilots being done by existing partners. For example, there is Sneha, a non-profit working on maternal and childcare in urban slums in Maharashtra. They invested in a WhatsApp bot-based solution for their field force to connect with their beneficiaries and give them relevant and timely information as required. So, corporates who had funded Sneha in the past are open to funding their tech innovations now, but a new funder would not be keen on such tech-centric projects. Sumit Tayal: There are no regulatory hurdles; there are only perception hurdles, if any. Nothing in the CSR law says that you cannot fund an early-stage tech pilot. The government, to the best of my understanding, has absolutely no problem if you fund innovation, which may result in learning, but not a specific output. Nowhere in the CSR law is there any provision that says that if your output is less than expected, that is non-compliance. They want funds to be allocated and spent or utilised in a timely manner. CSR committees and decision makers understandably don't want to take on high-risk, uncertain bets when there are more time-tested, steady, and predictable projects. They see tech innovation spending as high risk. Since the government has clarified that funding for incubators and accelerators from CSR funds are welcome, that funds have flown into this sector. Many tech majors today fund these accelerators. Tech education is a different ball game. Google, Microsoft, Capgemini, Infosys, Wipro, TCS, every large company in India is focused on either AI skilling or STEM education, as part of their CSR spending. Sumit Tayal: There are a few where CSR has funded the development and/or deployment of tech-first solutions. One of them is WhatsApp-based chatbots. They are increasingly finding their way into education, healthcare, and livelihood interventions. The typical case is where a non-profit needs to be in touch with their communities remotely and needs to provide targeted information. The second one is platforms like MindSpark by Educational Initiatives, for adaptive learning. Its programmes help children bridge the learning gap. For example, when a child is in grade four, but their learning level is at grade one, how do we help them catch up over time at their own pace? While MindSpark has been deployed in international schools, it is also in government schools and low-income schools with CSR funding. Alstom, the energy major, has picked up the theme of sustainable mobility. They are very open to funding non-profits and for-profit social enterprises, whoever is innovating in the theme of sustainable mobility. Some corporations fund tech for impact initiatives in their areas of interest and operations, but this is not huge. Sumit Tayal: The tipping point would come when the government indicates that it is keen that the corporate sector should look at tech innovation or tech for social impact in a positive manner. It could also happen when the board at a large corporate house shows enthusiasm for tech innovation with CSR funds in the same way it is excited about the use of technology in its business operations. Indian companies are amongst the best-placed players when it comes to innovation in their search for new products and markets. The day that appetite is transferred to the CSR sector, and when the fear of failure subsides, we will see a lot of tech for good projects coming up in the social sector, which will impact communities in a positive way. The Piramal Foundation is a good example. It may not be something specific to tech, but it is relevant here. They spent years running pilots in tribal communities before they were able to fine-tune their model on what works. And today, they do not hesitate to acknowledge that they had failed for years, but got it right finally. That kind of messaging is what gives comfort. Sumit Tayal: The government needs to clarify that it is keen that CSR funds go to fund tech innovation in the tech for social impact space. Such a signaling would be of the greatest help.

Trinidad & Tobago extends full support to India for UNSC permanent membership
Trinidad & Tobago extends full support to India for UNSC permanent membership

Indian Express

time14 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Trinidad & Tobago extends full support to India for UNSC permanent membership

India and Trinidad and Tobago have inked six agreements to boost cooperation in several sectors, including infrastructure and pharmaceuticals, following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart from the Caribbean nation, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. In the meeting held on Friday, Prime Minister Modi announced a decision by India to issue Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards up to the sixth generation of the Indian diaspora of Trinidad and Tobago, where over 40 per cent of the population is of Indian origin. It is the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to this Caribbean island nation since 1999. In their talks, Modi and Bissessar also explored potential collaboration in areas of defence, agriculture, healthcare and digital transformation, unified payments interface (UPI) and capacity building. 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'The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,' the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. PM Modi also met Christine Carla Kangaloo, the president of Trinidad and Tobago. In a social media post, Modi said a new momentum was added to the friendship between India and Trinidad and Tobago. 'Thank you, Trinidad & Tobago. The moments here will never be forgotten. We've added new momentum to the India-Trinidad & Tobago friendship. My gratitude to President Christine Carla Kangaloo, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the government and people of this wonderful nation,' he said. Several announcements to foster bilateral ties, including the offer of an OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card to the sixth generation of the people of Indian origin in the Caribbean nation, were made. The MEA said Modi and Bissesar agreed to work together for greater solidarity among the countries of the Global South and to strengthen India-CARICOM partnership. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an intergovernmental organisation of 15 member states in the Caribbean region, having the primary objective to promote economic integration and cooperation among the members. 'Both leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. They called upon greater cooperation to deal with contemporary challenges such as climate change, disaster management, and cybersecurity,' the MEA said. On PM Modi's meeting with President Kangaloo, the MEA said it was marked by warmth and a reaffirmation of the deep-rooted friendship between the two nations. 'The prime minister congratulated President Kangaloo on receiving the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award this year and expressed deep appreciation for her distinguished public service,' it said. 'The two leaders reflected on the enduring bonds shared by the two countries, anchored by strong people-to-people ties,' it added. The MEA said PM Modi invited Bissessar to visit India, which she accepted. Earlier on Friday, PM Modi addressed the parliament of the Caribbean nation and spoke about the cricket connection between the two countries. 'There is a natural warmth in the connection between our two countries. I must say, Indians are among the most passionate fans of the West Indies cricket team! We cheer for them with all our heart, except when they are playing against India,' he said. Modi also lauded the contribution of Indian-origin people to Trinidad and Tobago's development journey. 'From politics to poetry, cricket to commerce, calypso to chutney, they contribute to every field. They are an integral part of the vibrant diversity that you all respect.' 'Together, you have built a nation that lives its motto: 'Together we aspire, together we achieve',' Modi said.

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