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Nvidia Corporation and McKinsey & Company fuelled office space demand in the National Capital Region (NCR) during the January-March quarter, though leasing overall saw a 21% dip from the previous quarter, according to two people familiar with the development.US technology firm Nvidia Corporation secured 73,000 square feet space at The Headquarters 27 in Gurgaon, developed by Bharti Realty, while leading consulting firm McKinsey & Company leased about 70,000 sq ft space at DLF downtown in Gurgaon."McKinsey & Company is expanding its office footprint in line with our strong growth aspirations in India. We are planning to move to a new office property in Gurgaon, NCR - the new facility will be in addition to McKinsey's Client Capability Network, a diverse hub supporting our global operations in Gurgaon since 2000," a company spokesperson said. Nvidia Corporation did not respond to queries emailed by ET.Industry experts said the net absorption will remain strong based on the prior commitments made by prospective clients. "The NCR office market has been witnessing good demand, particularly from occupiers in the flex, IT-BPM, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and engineering and manufacturing sectors," said Vibhor Jain, managing director, North India, Cushman & Wakefield. "The share of pre-commitments in under-construction projects has been rising steadily, suggesting that a healthy momentum in absorption could sustain itself for some time. The city is staring at an influx of good quality office projects getting completed in the near-term."The share of pre-commitments increased to 25% in the March quarter from average of 9% in the past eight quarters, according to Cushman & Wakefield . This can be largely attributed to the high demand for the upcoming projects of superior grade, said experts. Flexible workspaces led the demand in January-March with a 23% share, followed by the BFSI sector (16%), according to the consultancy firm. The engineering and manufacturing sector and IT-BPM closely followed, with a 15% share each during the quarter, as both sectors saw a slack compared to their typical position as the top two contributors to demand. In the NCR, Gurgaon continued to lead demand, with a 73% share, mostly in prime sub-markets such as Cybercity and NH-8 Prime, cumulatively representing 46% of the overall gross leasing volume of the city, followed by Golf Course Road Extension and Golf Course Road. Noida was next with a 23% share, primarily in the Sector 62 area, followed by the Noida Expressway.A new supply of about 3 million sq ft is expected to enter the market in 2024, 60% of which will be in Gurgaon submarkets and the rest 40% in Noida Expressway. Therefore, vacancy rates are likely to increase in the near term, according to experts.

The government has invited the founders of spacetech startups such as Agnikul Cosmos, Bellatrix Aerospace, Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva Space, Pixxel, SatSure and Digantara to meet Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk in New Delhi on Monday.A group of startup executives and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials visited SpaceX’s facilities in Hawthorne, California, last month as a part of the US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Programme.Startups like Pixxel and Digantara have used SpaceX's rockets in the past for the launch of their satellites.One startup founder told ET: “It’s just about showing him what the Indian space ecosystem is up to. More than 50% of space assets are of Starlink owned by Elon Musk.”The main agenda during Musk’s visit will be satcom venture Starlink and electric car maker Tesla, startups said. “This trip is mainly about Tesla and servicing the Indian market through Starlink. I don’t think there is anything beyond this agenda,” said one of them, requesting not to be named.Starlink is a satellite constellation operated by Starlink Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX, providing internet coverage to over 70 countries. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband.“Back in the day, we did not have a private ecosystem. Now the government has opened a lot of things including FDI relaxation. The meeting is just to show our budding private space ecosystem and talk about innovative technologies of Indian space companies,” this founder said. The Cabinet on February 21 allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) under automatic route in the space sector: up to 74% for satellite manufacturing, 49% for launch vehicles and up to 100% for manufacturing of components and systems. The decision was notified on Tuesday, ahead of Musk’s trip to India.The easing of FDI rules will enable Indian space startups working on capital-intensive space products to access this global pool of capital to expand manufacturing and production capacity. Indian space startups can now explore innovative business models to reach a growing addressable market around the world.India has been one of the major spacefaring nations after the success of several space missions, such as Chandrayaan-3. “It is good to show the Indian legacy,” one of the startup founders said.

iPhone-maker Apple has formed a joint venture with renewable energy developer CleanMax to invest in six rooftop solar projects to power its India operations, the US company said Wednesday.The solar project will have a total size of 14.4 megawatts, which will provide a local solution to power the company’s offices and the two retail stores in Mumbai and New Delhi, the Cupertino-based smartphone major said in a statement.The company didn’t provide any financial details.The announcement comes amidst a global ramp-up in investments in clean energy and water around the world by Apple, with the goal to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by the end of this decade.More than 18 gigawatts of clean electricity now power Apple’s global operations and manufacturing supply chain, more than triple the amount in 2020, the company said.As part of its broader environmental efforts, Apple also advanced progress toward another ambitious 2030 goal: to replenish 100 percent of the freshwater used in corporate operations in high-stress locations.The company has initiatives to replenish fresh water reserves in Telangana and Maharashtra, Apple said.Last year, Apple achieved its target for 100 percent water replenishment for the company’s corporate operations in India through its ongoing work with Uptime Catalyst Facility, the company said.In 2023, Apple’s support provided 23 million gallons of clean, affordable drinking water to communities from over 300 water kiosks run by local entrepreneurs in the performance-based program.In 2021, Apple’s data centre in Prineville, Oregon, became the first-ever data centre certified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard, a trusted global framework for measuring responsible water stewardship.In the past year, seven supplier sites in southern India and over 20 supplier sites near Shanghai and Suzhou in China have participated in water stewardship training with AWS and others in the industry.

London-based asset manager Ashmore Group PLC is reducing its exposure to Indian equities and has made China the #1 pick in its emerging-markets fund, arguing that India’s stock market is overhyped and overcrowded while China’s is set for a rebound.With $6.5 billion invested in emerging equities, the fund has allocated 26% of its EM equity fund to China, while reducing India to less than half that, according to Edward Evans, a London-based EM equities portfolio manager. He cites a divergence in valuations as the main reason for the decision.“The risk-reward balance is arguably stronger for China and less so for India,” Evans said. “India demonstrates fantastic economic growth with great policy stability and it’s often quite a fertile ground for stock selection. But that said, one cannot be agnostic to price, not least in fast-growing emerging markets, since you do not want to pay up front for those future returns.”Ashmore’s bet goes against market consensus. Almost half of 390 Bloomberg MLIV Pulse survey respondents between April 8-12 selected India as the best investment compared to Japan and China, which was least favored among the three. Indian equities currently trade at a whopping 23 times next year’s expected earnings, exceeding even US multiples, and compared with nine for China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on MSCI Inc.’s indexes.109373260Ashmore has also previously been overweight India, but has booked profits as many companies reached valuations at “extremes” that “ultimately don’t look sustainable,” Evans said. “We are a quality-growth investor, but we are not agnostic to valuation, or to price, and that led us to take profits.”He also cited a risk in India that authorities could look to dampen more speculative investing behavior, especially in the domestic market, making the policy narrative less supportive.In China, the risks are well known, ranging from geopolitical tensions and a trade showdown with the US, to a property sector crisis and growth that’s cooling from the world-beating levels the economy enjoyed over past decades. The main gauge of Chinese equities has tumbled about 40% from its peak three years ago, and is down 19% in the past year, compared with a 33% gain for the benchmark MSCI India index.China’s economic growth is expected to trail India’s for at least the next two years, according to economists’ forecasts on Bloomberg.Still, Evans sees tentative signs of recovery in China, including pickups in factory activity and exports. He points to Caixin manufacturing PMI data, which indicated a fifth straight month of expansion in March, with official government data also showing a rebound. Exports have also increased amid rising global demand for technology goods.Evans said Chinese companies’ shares will also benefit from tight cost management, share buybacks and increasing dividends. Those measures are putting a floor under valuations and offer “a rich potential and a shining opportunity,” he said.Companies in industries such as the supply chain behind AI and electric-vehicle renewables are likely to be drivers of future performance, he said. The balance sheet for the Chinese consumer is still strong and there’s also opportunity in consumer-focused shares, especially in services, he said.Ashmore’s pure EM equity fund has gained 5% on average annually over the past five years, a paltry return compared with that enjoyed by investors in US stocks, but still double the average return of peers in emerging markets. The fund has performed in parallel with the average so far in 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.