October 1 2020: With leasing and construction activity coming to a standstill in the first few months of the lockdown, research by Savills India reveals that total leasing declined by almost 60% in H12020 across six major cities to 13mn sq. ft (as compared to the year-ago period).
Individuals who have opened new businesses during this pandemic and do not require physical office spaces,  are mostly opting for virtual offices. Mostly because of one of its various benefits I.e., cost-cutting. Virtual office is a small office provided to new entrepreneurs where you get a dedicated receptionist to answer your calls, one can also book boardrooms and meeting rooms if they want with the latest audio-video equipment including high-tech facilities like video conferencing with high speed internet connectivity. There is also a choice of taking one or all the services as per client’s requirements. Clients can also take advantage of the provided address to them which can be used on their letterheads and business cards.
With a virtual office, a person can consider business expansion easily and showcase a well-established corporate image on their business documents.
Says  Kushal Bhargava, Co-founder of MyBranch, a  company  in the Shared, Managed and Virtual Office Space business for corporates and startups:“We have witnessed a 50% hike in the virtual office space requirements after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. These leads were mainly from the service & e-commerce industry.  Their requirements also included GST registration for the state. Apart from providing an official address with a GST number, the virtual office spaces also help the growing entrepreneurs with the facility of meeting rooms and inbound-outbound communication management.”
MyBranch is planning to expand to 13 new cities with their entire service range shortly and are expecting an increase in the demand for virtual spaces in those cities as well.