Indore emerges as Central India’s real estate powerhouse – Here’s why
Indore is a thriving real estate market with active participation from both end-users and investors.
The dual factors of improved liveability index and the cost of living which is 15-20% lower than metros make it a perfect place to live and work.
By Sanjeev Arora
The city of Indore, situated at ~3.5 hours’ drive from Bhopal, is the biggest city of Madhya Pradesh (M.P). While Bhopal is the capital, Indore remains unrivalled, when it comes to be the economic, cultural and commercial hub of central India.
The city, which was once ruled by the Maratha Holkars, is spread across around 530 sq. km. with a household income that stands at Rs 6.5 lakh, a number that would surely put it in the bracket of prosperous cities.
Indore’s economy is sized at around USD 12 billion (~ Rs 120,500 crore). It is estimated that around one-third of the snacks in India are produced in Indore, giving it the epithet of Namkeen capital of India. 26 kms from main Indore is the Pithampur city, which is a leading hub of automobiles and auto part manufacturing.
Owing to the city’s growing economic influence, major multinational corporations (MNCs) and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) set-ups have their regional offices in Indore. The city is also home to a burgeoning engineering, textile, agribusiness, FMCG business. It is investing heavily in attracting more and more IT, ITeS, GCCs and hardware enterprises. Concentrated efforts are put to develop dedicated business and IT parks to transform Indore into a technology and innovation hub.
Already Infosys and TCS are operational in Indore. Numerus other big technology companies are eyeing to start large scale IT production facilities in Indore.
Infrastructure Development of Indore
The infrastructure in Indore is developing at an unprecedented vigour with increased investments across a slew of greenfield & brownfield projects. The city is well connected with major metros all over India via railway, highways and air. New business parks, IT parks, Internal Container Depot (ICD), business corridors, highway networks have been unveiled in recent times, bridging its gap with other major metros in India.
Work is going full throttle on the 124 km long Indore metro project. The Rs 12,000 cr project is set to start any time before 2030 as it is in its advance stage of completion. The trial run of the metro has been already done.
Work has begun on the developing a new airport terminal. This will take the total passenger capacity to 5.5 million from 4 million presently.
A new ultramodern 12-km-long commercial stretch will be developed connecting airport with the Vipul Square market under IDA (Indore Development Authority). Acting as Indore’s new CBD, the commercial catchment called Super Corridor will be smaller version of GIFT City, Ahmedabad and BKC, Mumbai.
An IT hub will be developed in the super corridor, following an investment of Rs 1500 crore. The bustling corridor will also have dedicated business parks, AI park, pharma park, green energy park, education city.
Thriving Real Estate market
Indore is a thriving real estate market with active participation from both end-users and investors. The dual factors of improved liveability index and the cost of living, which is 15-20% lower than metros, make it a perfect place to live and work. Interestingly, more than half of the population in Indore is migrant workforce.
Major property micro-markets are MR 10, AB Road, LIG Square, Old Palasia, Annapurna Road, Vijay Nagar. There are other markets such as Rau-Pithampur Road, Super Corridor and Vijay Chowk, which are witnessing a spurt in property demand.
Super Corridor will be a place, where a lot of spotlight will be directed in the near future. It will be a bustling hub for aspirational home, luxury lifestyle, high streets and entertainment in the years to come. As a self-sustainable ecosystem, it will prioritize the concepts of work-play-live in the city.
Over the past few years, average property prices in Indore have risen by around 8-10% yearly, further underscoring ascending tendencies in the real estate industry. Although price growth will slow down a bit in the coming times, the property market in Indore will continue to thrive.
Indore is also a robust commercial market, with leasing rates mostly in the range of Rs 25-60 PSF. However, markets like Vijay Nagar, which are premier destinations, can command a lease rate of around Rs 75 – 135 PSF.
(The author is Director, 360 Realtors. Views are personal)
