Dark Stores and Mother Hubs Set to Fuel Urban Warehousing Boom
New Delhi, October 26: Quick commerce is set to become a major force in India's urban real estate market. A new report released on Monday projects that demand for urban logistics space could reach 75 million square feet by 2030, backed by dark stores and warehouse networks.
CBRE South Asia's findings suggest that cities will need approximately 42 million square feet of dark stores and 33 million square feet of mother hubs by the close of this decade.
The report describes mother hubs as large warehouses, typically located at the edges of cities. These facilities hold inventory and feed multiple dark stores through the hub-and-spoke distribution model.
By 2026, India's quick commerce network had expanded to about 7,800 dark stores. These outlets currently occupy roughly 27 million square feet of logistics space across more than 100 cities.
Although around 65 to 70 percent of the dark store network is concentrated in the eight largest metros, operators are steadily moving into Tier-II and Tier-III cities. By 2030, the number of dark stores is expected to cross 12,000.
The report also highlights that warehousing demand tied to quick commerce posted an 81 percent compound annual growth rate between 2021 and 2025. Over this period, the segment represented about 4 to 5 percent of India's total logistics leasing activity.
Annual absorption of space by quick commerce grew from 3.1 million square feet in 2024 to 4.3 million square feet in 2025.
In terms of cities, Delhi-NCR has emerged as the leading market, with a 21 percent share of total quick commerce warehousing demand between 2021 and the first half of 2026. Mumbai accounted for 20 percent, followed by Bengaluru at 17 percent, Hyderabad at 16 percent and Chennai at 11 percent.
Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO for India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa at CBRE, said that quick commerce is transforming how consumption and urban logistics work together in India, and real estate is central to that transformation.
He added that as these platforms move away from capital-intensive expansion toward a more systematic growth cycle, they are focusing on creating fulfilment networks that are compact, efficient and well positioned, rather than simply increasing store counts. This shift, he said, will generate substantial real estate opportunities within cities and in their outer areas.
CBRE stated that the sector's future growth will depend on the creation of fulfilment assets that meet regulatory requirements, are strategically located and are ready for future demands. These assets must be able to support changing operational needs in metros and emerging urban markets.