Amid rising urban expansion and infrastructure-led development, land banking is re-emerging as a cornerstone strategy in India’s commercial real estate sector. With land becoming an increasingly scarce and appreciating asset, developers, institutional investors, and corporates are proactively acquiring strategic land parcels in emerging corridors, transit-linked zones, and peri-urban regions. These holdings are not meant for immediate development but are reserved for future projects, timed to align with zoning upgrades, population growth, and policy shifts, allowing stakeholders to lock in value early while minimizing risk exposure.
Growth hotspots such as Hyderabad’s Shamshabad belt, Pune’s Talegaon-Chakan corridor, Bengaluru’s Devanahalli and Sarjapur stretches, and NCR’s Dwarka Expressway and Noida Extension are witnessing heightened land aggregation activity. Here, players are targeting land near proposed infrastructure projects, upcoming industrial clusters, data center zones, and smart city extensions, anticipating long-term appreciation and monetization through build-to-suit, lease, or outright sale models. Institutional capital is also entering the fray, with REITs, pension funds, and private equity firms betting on long-hold land strategies to fuel future development pipelines.
Policy support through PM Gati Shakti, industrial corridor programs, and urban masterplan updates has added momentum to land banking by enhancing infrastructure visibility, improving digitization of land records, and enabling cluster zoning. This has made it easier to identify high-yield potential plots and streamline acquisition processes. As India’s cities expand and commercial demand diversifies, land banking offers a hedge against market volatility and a platform for scalable, strategic deployment. It is once again proving to be an indispensable tool for future-proofing investments and ensuring long-term returns in a fast-changing real estate landscape.
