Flexible Warehousing Is the Co-Working Moment Indian Supply Chains Have Been Waiting For - Says Hemant Kejriwal

Mumbai (Maharashtra) : An importer's container lands at Nhava Sheva, but the buyer's warehouse is full. Every extra day at the port adds cost. The importer needs 5,000 square feet of safe, compliant space for six weeks, and has nowhere to get it.

For Hemant Kejriwal, who has spent more than 25 years across retail, third-party logistics and international supply chains, and most recently led a Free Trade Warehousing Zone business near Mumbai, this is not an edge case. It is everyday life for many Indian businesses. In his view, it is also a sign that the country's warehousing boom is missing a critical piece.

"India now has high-quality, safe and compliant warehouses," Kejriwal says. "What is missing is the link between the long leases developers want and the flexibility businesses need. Companies should be able to use warehouses the way startups use co-working offices: as much space as they need, for as long as they need it."

A boom built for big tenants

The numbers back the first half of that argument. According to Colliers, India's top eight cities added 34.5 million sq ft of new Grade A industrial and warehousing supply between January and September 2026, against 33.3 million sq ft of leasing. At mid-year, vacancy stood at 17.2%.

Yet Hemant Kejriwal points out that the way this space is sold has barely changed. It still comes in large blocks, on multi-year leases with lock-in periods. Customers must forecast their needs months ahead, and bear the cost of getting it wrong.

"A festive peak, a delayed project, an opportunistic purchase, or a sudden drop in sales because a competitor cut prices to grab market share. None of these is a planning failure," he says. "It is business as usual."

Three poor choices

When a company needs extra space for a few weeks or months, Kejriwal says it usually faces three options, none of them good.

It can sign a long lease and keep paying for empty space once the peak has passed. It can hand the entire operation to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, outsourcing far more than just storage. Or it can rent a cheap godown, which in his experience is the most common choice among smaller businesses, and the riskiest.

"Many of these godowns don't meet fire safety norms, and businesses can only hope nothing goes wrong," Kejriwal says. "Then come brokerage, updating GST registrations, extending insurance, moving equipment, sending a trusted manager to set up and run the site, and hiring and training temporary labour. All for a few weeks of space."

None of these options, he notes, truly serves a business that needs 20,000 square feet for four months, or an extra 8,000 square feet for a few weeks before Diwali.

What co-working got right

Offices once faced the same constraint. A five-person startup, or a large company opening a small branch in a new city, could not easily rent a serviced office or scale it up gradually. Co-working solved this. An operator leased the building, fitted it out, managed it and rented it by the desk. The owner got a steady tenant, and the occupant got a professionally managed office without a long commitment.

"Warehousing must do the same," Kejriwal says.

In the model he describes, a business signs one simple contract and can start using managed Grade A facilities across a network of locations within a day. It pays only for what it uses: say, 300 pallet positions in October and 120 in January, with rates linked to volume and duration. Inventory, transactions and billing are visible on a phone in real time, and transport and value-added services can be added when needed.

Hemant Kejriwal calls this the "sachetization" of warehousing. Selling shampoo in sachets lowered the ticket size, opened the category to millions who found a full bottle too expensive or inconvenient, and reshaped Indian FMCG.

"Per square foot, flexible space may cost more than a long lease," he acknowledges. "But you pay only for what you use. For most businesses, access to infrastructure that was previously out of reach is worth that premium."

Shared 3PL warehouses and online warehousing marketplaces already exist in India. Kejriwal sees the difference in the combination: compliant Grade A parks rather than whatever space happens to be free, pricing based on actual usage rather than minimum commitments, and customers keeping full visibility and control of their inventory rather than handing over their operations.

Why it needs a partnership

So why hasn't this happened at scale? Kejriwal's answer is practical: neither the developer nor the operator can do it alone. Hotels pair a developer with a hospitality brand. Malls pair a developer with a mall management company. Flexible warehousing, he argues, needs a same structure.

Part of the reason is that storage is complicated. A carton of shampoo, bottles of fine wine, a drum of chemicals and a rack of garments each need different handling, equipment and processes. Some goods have a limited shelf life, some need temperature control, and some are fragile or stain easily. One client holds thousands of units of a few products; another holds a few units each of thousands of products.

"Developers are excellent at building and owning assets," Kejriwal says. "Running a multi-client operation that keeps every customer's inventory safe, accurate and visible in real time is a different expertise. Together, they lower the risk and grow the market for both."

Why now

Hemant Kejriwal points to three changes that make the model viable today.

• The buildings now exist. Compliant Grade A parks have come up along every major corridor. "When supply is running level with or ahead of demand, developers need partners who can fill space," he says.

• Demand is fragmenting. Direct-to-consumer brands, quick commerce, frequent promotions and sourcing that is moving beyond China all mean more products, smaller lots and shorter commitments.

• The technology has caught up. Cloud-based warehouse management systems, multi-client inventory segregation, app- and API-based visibility, and digital GST and e-way bill workflows make it practical to serve many small clients from one facility.

"Customers have always wanted flexibility," Kejriwal says. "Under pressure on margins, most would now rather work with a flexible partner."

Who stands to gain

In Kejriwal's view, the benefits run across the chain. Developers fill space faster, by serving new needs for existing tenants and by reaching small businesses and startups now operating from unsafe godowns. Those businesses gain access to world-class infrastructure, technology and processes that were previously out of reach.

Larger companies gain room to experiment. They can launch more products in more territories and respond faster to disruptions. Over time, he expects that agility to unlock opportunities trapped in rigid supply chains, and to widen the range of products and services reaching Indian consumers.

"Infrastructure that makes supply chains agile enables entirely new business models," says Hemant Kejriwal. "India is building the warehouses. The next step is to make them flexible enough for every business to use. Offices have already made that shift. Now it is warehousing's turn."

About Hemant Kejriwal

Hemant Kejriwal is a logistics and supply chain leader with more than 25 years of experience across retail, third-party logistics, international logistics and Free Trade Warehousing Zone operations.