JLL strengthens leadership in Delhi NCR and Chennai

MUMBAI: Leading property consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL ) India has announced a major realignment in the leadership team for its Delhi NCR and Chennai businesses. 

The move will further strengthen the company's position with regards to its established businesses in Delhi NCR and South India, the company said in a release.

While Badal Yagnik, who was earlier heading Chennai and Coimbatore, has assumed the role of Managing Director - Delhi NCR, Sarita Hunt, who was looking after Chennai's commercial office real estate domain, has taken up the baton from Badal Yagnik to spearhead the operations in Chennai and Coimbatore.

Based out of Gurgaon, Badal will be responsible for driving the firm's transaction businesses in this region and ensuring further growth in terms of revenue, product offerings and business scale.

During his successful tenure in Chennai and Coimbatore, Badal significantly scaled up the firm's business in this key market across multiple service lines, bringing into play his highly evolved cross-selling skills.

This background, as well as his familiarity with and excellent connections in the Delhi NCR market, equip him to significantly amplify his success record in his new assignment.

Commenting on the prevailing commercial real estate scenario in Delhi NCR, Badal says, "The demand for office real estate in NCR will pick up after the general elections, and this will drive up rental levels. 

Anticipating this, corporates are showing a lot of interest in acquiring space and renegotiating their real estate portfolios ahead of the lease tenure while the rentals are still stable."

The NCR commercial office space saw net absorption at a nine-year low in 2013. However, overall transaction volumes were higher than in 2012, indicating an increase in leasing activity in the office market. Consolidations and relocations were the major demand drivers over the past year, and
improving global business sentiments are likely to increase office space requirements for both expansion and consolidation needs going forward.

Continuing to be based out of Chennai, Sarita Hunt will be responsible for further growing JLL's business footprint as well as advancing the firm's leadership position in the city.

Sarita Hunt has already distinguished herself by substantially increasing JLL's share of business in Chennai's commercial office real estate domain. Her demonstrated abilities in client relationship management and operational expertise within the Chennai market give her a strong footing to take on this next level of leadership.

Sarita says, "I am indeed excited to take up this responsibility at an important juncture for Chennai's real estate market. With heightened competition for Grade A office space in the city's preferred micro-markets and the decrease in vacancy across the secondary business districts, Chennai will now witness a moderate increase in rentals, especially in these occupier-favoured locations. This represents a major opportunity for developers looking at new commercial real estate projects there to take advantage of the inherent demand and capitalise on the lack of supply. The average demand for office spaces in Chennai in 2014 stands at approximately 3.5 million square feet."