Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing has bought a majority stake in KSH Infra Pvt. Ltd, a Pune-based warehousing and logistics park developer for a reported $49 million (Rs 3.5 billion), adding to the close to $2.3 billion poured into India's logistics market over the last two years by foreign investors.

The transaction will give the American investment manager a controlling interest in KSH's two logistics and industrial parks, which total about 1 million sq ft (92,903 sq mts) and fuel the Indian firm's goal of adding 4 million additional sq ft of warehouses in Pune and Mumbai by 2020.

This will be Morgan Stanley's first investment into the country's logistics real estate sector, but it follows in the footsteps of investments by Singapore's Global Logistic Properties (GLP) and Warburg Pincus, as rapid development of e-commerce and regulatory changes have boosted the sector's appeal with institutional investors.

Rohit Hegde, MD of KSH Distriparks Ltd. told Indian media that the company was actively looking to grow its industrial real estate business amid “robust demand from various segments, including manufacturing, logistics companies, retailers and e-commerce players.

The deal will spin off KSH Infra from its parent company KSH Distriparks Pvt. Ltd, which also manages an internal container depot in Pune and a country-wide logistics business.