Dark store rent per sq ft in India by city

Updated October 2026

Dark store rent in India runs from about ₹40 to ₹200 per sq ft a month. Delhi-NCR is the costliest at ₹150–200, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru. Smaller cities sit around ₹40–90.

A 4,000 sq ft space works out to roughly ₹1.6 lakh to ₹8 lakh a month.

These are market ranges for a first estimate. Locality, frontage, road width and parking decide the real figure.

Dark store rent by city (₹ per sq ft per month)

City	Typical rent	Note
Delhi / Delhi-NCR	₹150–200	Costliest city; some estimates go up to ₹250
Mumbai	₹80–180
Bengaluru	₹60–150
Chennai	₹40–110
Hyderabad	₹40–80
Pune	₹40–80
Kolkata	₹40–80
Tier-2 and tier-3 cities	₹40–90	Start from the lower end

Ranges cover estimates from late 2024 to mid-2026. Rents in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR had already risen about 25–35% by mid-2025, so newer leases may sit at the top of the range.

How to estimate dark store rent for your space

Measure the carpet area, not the built-up area. Blinkit’s landlord form asks for at least 2,000 sq ft.
Pick your city’s range. In a tier-2 or tier-3 city, start from the lower end.
Multiply. For example, 2,500 sq ft in Bengaluru at ₹60–150 per sq ft works out to about ₹1.5–3.75 lakh a month.
Adjust for the site. A ground floor on a wide road, with parking for 40 bikes and a truck, gets the top rent. A basement in a narrow lane gets less and may run into zoning trouble.
Check real listings of similar commercial spaces nearby, and talk to a local broker.

The worked example for landlords runs the same sum at 2,000 and 3,000 sq ft for each city, along with store size, lease length, deposit and lock-in.

How much space dark stores take up

In October 2025 about 2,525 dark stores used some 13 million sq ft. About 400 were in Delhi-NCR, 360 in Bengaluru, 250 in Mumbai and 190 in Chennai. Counts are higher now, because networks have grown and each app’s store is counted separately.

A house or basement can be sealed under zoning rules, so check how local rules treat dark stores in residential areas before you sign.

How rent affects a dark store’s profits

A 5,000 sq ft store costs about ₹2.4–2.5 crore to set up (September 2026). Its monthly rent of ₹2–10 lakh is a large fixed cost, so the app needs plenty of orders from that one store.

Per order, a 4,000 sq ft store in Bengaluru at ₹100 per sq ft pays ₹4 lakh a month, or about ₹13,000 a day. At around 1,400 orders a day, close to an average Blinkit store in early 2026, rent comes to about ₹10 an order. The same store doing 500 orders a day, as a smaller-city store might, pays about ₹27 an order. That gap is why apps chase high-order locations and why landlords in busy areas can ask for the top of the range. Try other rents and order counts in the unit economics calculator to see the cost per order move.

Cities where apps need the most dark store space

Cities with many stores usually have the most competition for good ground-floor space. Counts cover six apps: Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BB Now, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now.

#	City	Dark stores
1	Bengaluru Karnataka; 6 of 6 apps	926
2	Delhi Delhi; 6 of 6 apps	693
3	Hyderabad Telangana; 6 of 6 apps	556
4	Chennai Tamil Nadu; 6 of 6 apps	433
5	Mumbai Maharashtra; 6 of 6 apps	390
6	Pune Maharashtra; 6 of 6 apps	356
7	Gurugram Haryana; 6 of 6 apps	282
8	Kolkata West Bengal; 6 of 6 apps	248
9	Ahmedabad Gujarat; 6 of 6 apps	174
10	Lucknow Uttar Pradesh; 6 of 6 apps	171
11	Noida Uttar Pradesh; 6 of 6 apps	152
12	Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh; 6 of 6 apps	151
13	Jaipur Rajasthan; 5 of 6 apps	129
14	Navi Mumbai Maharashtra; 6 of 6 apps	108
15	Thane Maharashtra; 6 of 6 apps	106

Neighbourhoods with the most dark stores

Clusters of stores show where apps have already found space. Counts include only stores with a known area.

Bengaluru: Krishnarajapuram (25), Bellandur (22), HSR Layout (22), Banashankari (21)
Delhi: Rohini (33), Dwarka (30), Shahdara (23), Uttam Nagar (17)
Mumbai: Andheri East (29), Chembur (19), Andheri West (18), Borivali West (16)
Hyderabad: Banjara Hills (14), Narsingi (13), Madhapur (12), Gachibowli (11)
Pune: Hadapsar (19), Hinjawadi (19), Wagholi (18), Wakad (13)