Mishik Sharma

Introduction: The Physical Economy Needs a Movement Architecture India is building out an increasingly elaborate physical infrastructure for handling goods. The scale of this expansion is visible in the rapid growth of industrial and warehousing real estate, but what is particularly revealing is who is driving the demand. In the first quarter of 2026, industrial and warehousing leasing across India's eight leading markets reached 11 million sq ft, 22 per cent higher than a year earlier. E-commerce leasing rose to 4.7 million sq ft, doubling its share of demand to 13 per cent. The rapid expansion of quick commerce was an important factor, with platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart expanding dark-store and micro-fulfilment networks to support increasingly compressed delivery times. At the same time, third-party logistics (3PL) companies leased 3.5 million sq ft, about a third of total quarterly demand and 1.8 times their absorption a year earlier. The momentum continued thro...

1. The New Geography of Indian Commerce For much of the first phase of India’s e-commerce revolution, the geography of digital commerce was closely associated with the country’s major metropolitan markets. This was understandable. Dense populations, higher purchasing power, better logistics, greater digital adoption, and concentrated consumer demand made the largest cities natural starting points for online retail. The physical infrastructure required to support e-commerce could also be concentrated around these markets. That geography is now changing. Quick commerce provides perhaps the clearest illustration. By August 2026, dark stores operated by quick-commerce companies had spread across 477 Indian cities, according to a report by CLSA, released on 27 August. The expansion is no longer simply a matter of adding more dark stores to established metropolitan networks. Newer entrants are deliberately targeting underpenetrated geographies, while established companies are testing relativ...