NDR Smart Spaces Gets ₹225-Crore IFC Investment for 20-Million-Sq-Ft Logistics Platform.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has invested ₹225 crore in NDR Smart Spaces, a newly established platform of the NDR Group, to develop Grade A warehousing and logistics infrastructure across India.

The equity investment will support the development of a pipeline of around 20 million sq ft across 14 cities, including approximately 8 million sq ft that is already under construction.

The platform will develop both dry warehouses and cold storage facilities, with a focus on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Around 1.5 million sq ft of the planned portfolio will comprise cold storage capacity.

The additional cold-chain infrastructure is aimed at addressing gaps in India's storage network and reducing post-harvest losses in the agricultural supply chain.

“Logistics is the lifeblood of any economy, and in India, where per capita warehousing stock remains approximately three times lower than in similar markets, getting it right matters enormously,” said Vikram Kumar, IFC’s Regional Industry Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Asia and the Pacific.

Kumar said the partnership would focus on developing Grade A warehousing to global standards while creating a platform capable of attracting long-term institutional capital and driving innovation in the sector.

Amrutesh Reddy, Director, NDR Smart Spaces, said the partnership would strengthen the company’s ability to develop high-quality logistics and social infrastructure assets at scale and accelerate its growth.

Raj Srinivasan, CEO of NDR Smart Spaces, said the investment would help speed up the development of the company’s existing warehousing and social infrastructure pipeline.

The development of the 20-million-sq-ft pipeline is expected to create around 24,000 direct jobs, based on an estimated 1,200 direct jobs for every million sq ft of warehousing capacity. These jobs are expected to span logistics, operations, maintenance and management functions.

Shalabh Tandon, IFC’s Regional Head of Operations & Climate and Interim Regional Division Director, South Asia, said modern logistics infrastructure would be critical to supporting private sector-led job creation and India's economic growth.

India's logistics costs are estimated at 13-14 per cent of GDP, compared with a global average of around 8 per cent. The government's National Logistics Policy seeks to improve supply-chain efficiency and bring down logistics costs.

NDR Smart Spaces plans to develop its warehouses in accordance with the Advanced EDGE green building standard, targeting a 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption and a 20 per cent reduction in water consumption.

The investment also marks IFC's entry as an equity investor in the newly established NDR Smart Spaces platform. The platform is separate from NDR InvIT Trust, the listed infrastructure investment trust sponsored by the NDR Group.

The partnership comes amid growing institutional investor interest in India's logistics and warehousing sector, driven by the expansion of e-commerce, manufacturing and organised retail, as well as the formalisation of supply chains.

Demand for organised logistics infrastructure is also expanding beyond major consumption and industrial centres, with smaller cities increasingly emerging as warehousing and distribution hubs.