Will push the idea of co-working spaces within govt: Sitharaman

At least one central minister is taken by the latest fad among start-ups, of promoting co-working spaces.

On Monday, commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she planned to write to MPs in states where there has been a surge of start-ups, urging them to open such co-working spaces. She had, she said, used her own Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme fund to create a co-working space for start-ups in Mangaluru, Karnataka. It houses a 60-seater complex, enabling at least 120 companies in two shifts to operate from.

The minister wants more such complexes to come up in tier-II and tier-III cities, so that start-ups do not have to worry about office space. “I will write to all the MPs in districts where people are approaching their MPs asking if they can have some space and where there is a demand of start-ups,” she said at the launch of a Startup India Hub portal. The minister says as this idea is part of the prime minister's Startup India project, it would find many takers.

Coupled with a significant proportion of young freelance professionals, the co-working spaces sector would see more than 50 per cent growth in the year 2017, according to IndiQube, a workspace solutions provider. It also predicts that the demand for new office space in the country would reach 40 million sq ft by the end of the year.