New Delhi, September 17 :

India is all set to emerge as a hot spot for global realty and investment firms as the appetite for office space, especially from IT industry, is growing at a phenomenal pace, says a new study.

IT and business process outsourcing industries alone will need 367 million sq ft of space by 2012-13, says the joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Ernst and Young.

“These conservative estimates are based on the assumption that IT professionals will grow at 20 percent per annum and the space requirement remains at 100 sq ft per knowledge worker,” says the study. It states that India’s improving image as a regional corporate base for Asian markets with emerging sectors such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, telecom and biotechnology will also boost demand and broaden the occupier base.

The study notes that in the commercial retail and entertainment segment, eight large Indian cities will see a supply of around 66 million sq ft of new retail space through more than 200 proposed retail centres by 2008. The study also points out that a major growth catalyst for the hospitality real estate segment will be the emergence of unconventional forms of tourism such as medical tourism.

In India, approximately 180,000 patients arrived in 2004 from around the world for medical treatment. In 2004, the medical tourism market in India was $333 million. By 2012 it is estimated to become a $2 billion-a-year business opportunity.

The Indian retail industry with an annual turnover of around $250 billion is already one of the 10 largest retail markets in the world.