With economic activities reviving, leasing of industrial and warehousing spaces across five cities rose 7 percent to 10.8 million square feet in January-June period. The gross leasing or absorption stood at 10.1 million square feet in the first six months last year in five major cities namely Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune. The growth of the warehousing market is fuelled by the rise in retail and e-commerce business. E-commerce players requiring large warehouses to deliver goods in the shortest time have enhanced the demand of warehousing space. This has also led to ramping up automation in warehousing and transparent shipping via Internet of Things (IoT). The expansion of warehousing clusters has rapidly moved beyond Tier I cities and tapping the potential of Tier II and III cities. Further, the Government has allowed the financial institutions to provide for long-term loans of tenures of up to 8-10 years to set up warehousing infrastructure.