Mumbai, India
 

Mumbai and its Commercial Real Estate Market are unique in many respects. Did You Know... 

•       Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the Indian State of Maharashtra and the most populated city of India. It has a population of about 13 million and a metropolitan area population of over 19 million people, making it the world's sixth most populous metropolitan area.

•       The metropolitan area of Mumbai is projected to be the world's 4^th most populous area by 2015 if the growth rate continues to be 2.2% per year.  

•       Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment centre of India. It houses several important institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, and the National Stock Exchange of India. The city is also home to Bollywood, India's Hindi film and television industry, and for that reason most of India's television and satellite networks are headquartered in the city.

•       Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, located in the suburbs of Santa Cruz and Sahar, is the busiest airport in India and South Asia. It handles 40% of India's international flights, and it is served by 46 international airlines. 

•       Mumbai has one of the best natural harbors in the world, and its port handles half of India's passenger traffic as well as a considerable amount of goods.

•       A big percentage of Mumbai's workforce works either for the state government or in the entertainment industry, and many of them are English speakers, which is one of the reasons multinationals are attracted to the city.  

•       The University of Mumbai is one of the best universities in India, and it is the university with the highest graduate rate in the world. The university has two post-graduate centers, 354 affiliated colleges, and 36 departments.   

•       Mumbai's office real estate market saw considerable changes in the first quarter of the year.  The Central Government imposed a service tax of 12.36% on leased commercial premises, which caused rental and capital value to increase and absorption to decrease.  About 200,500 square feet of CBD and SBD Class A office space were delivered to the market.  Throughout the rest of the year about 10 million of square feet of square feet of office space will be added to the stock.                             

•       The retail market in Mumbai continues to grow at a good rate. Lake City Mall, with 450,000 square feet, was completed on the first quarter of the year, and two more malls will be completed in 2Q 2007. A total of 3.8 million of square feet are expected to be added to the stock this year.