India office space sees turnaround

[SINGAPORE] Blackstone Group, the world's largest property investor, is leading a wave of investors in Indian commercial property as rents at three-year lows and Asia's worst-performing currency lured global companies.

"We are seeing rental growth in almost all markets," said Tuhin Parikh, Blackstone's senior managing director in the real estate group in Mumbai. "All the tenants facing the West are seeing a huge uptake in what they do and therefore taking large spaces in India."

Rothschild family-backed Xander Group and APG Asset Management of the Netherlands are among investors increasing their office assets in Asia's third-largest economy. New York-based Blackstone has invested US$1 billion in commercial property across India to become the largest landlord in the country among private-equity investors, said IIFL, a Mumbai-based brokerage.