The slowness in the information technology space affected occupancy rates in the second quarter, said Aravind Maiya, CEO, of Embassy REIT. But he is hopeful that the challenges will soon be behind.
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"The slowness in IT is definitely impacting us. I think the profit pressures as well as the continued work from home continues to lead to some exits, because of which our net occupancy is at 83%," he told CNBC-TV18.
Embassy REIT is India's first publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trust.
Maiya said the company's two largest markets -- Bangalore and Mumbai -- have performed exceptionally well with occupancy rates at 96% and 90%, respectively.
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The company has also revised its leasing guidance for the current fiscal year to 6.5 million square feet from 6 million square feet. Maiya attributed this revision to two primary reasons:
First, the company successfully leased 3.1 million square feet during the first half of the year, including a substantial 0.6 million square feet renewal of space, which accounted for almost 20% of the total leased space. Second, the company currently has a pipeline of 2.5 million square feet for the remainder of the year.
Maiya pointed out that the majority of the demand for commercial real estate in India is coming from Global Captive Centres (GCCs) and that's the real demand driver for commercial real estate in India.
The company's consolidated net profit increased to ₹216.67 crore in the second quarter from ₹128.46 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to ₹939.33 crore from ₹895.90 crore in the year-ago period.
Shares of Embassy REIT gained around 2% to ₹304.35. The stock has remained flat over the past month.
(Edited by : Shweta Mungre)