India’s commercial real estate is experiencing a significant build-to-suit (BTS) surge, driven by growing demand from corporate tenants seeking tailor-made infrastructure in key economic corridors. Unlike speculative construction, BTS models involve developers constructing commercial or industrial facilities specifically customized to the operational needs of an anchor tenant, often under a pre-lease agreement. This trend is gaining traction across logistics, IT, manufacturing, and e-commerce sectors, especially in growth hubs where ready infrastructure, land availability, and government incentives align.
Cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, and NCR (especially Noida and Gurugram) are leading the way, with BTS activity clustering around industrial parks, logistics hubs, and emerging smart city zones. Corporate tenants are driving this demand to ensure facilities meet precise operational, sustainability, and expansion requirements, ranging from warehouse design and data center compliance to green building certifications and automation integration. In turn, developers are partnering with landowners or acquiring land in subdivided industrial belts to fast-track projects and secure long-term rental yields.
The appeal of the BTS model lies in its risk-balanced structure: tenants avoid upfront capital costs while securing long-term occupancy, and developers enjoy guaranteed tenancy with reduced marketing risk. Policy frameworks like PM Gati Shakti, state-led industrial corridor development, and ease-of-doing-business reforms are further enabling this model. As India continues its infrastructure-led growth trajectory, corporate-led BTS demand is transforming land into high-performance, tenant-anchored assets, redefining how strategic land banks are monetized in the modern commercial landscape.
