PG & Co-living Companies in India Compared (2026)

The short version

India's PG market splits along two lines: who runs the building (a marketplace or a managed operator) and what it costs (budget or premium).
Stanza Living and Zolo lead the managed side with about 50,000 beds each. Colive, Your-Space, Housr and Tribe are pushing into premium.
Marketplaces such as NoBroker, Housing.com and MagicBricks own discovery, but not the stay.
Organised players still run only about 5% of beds. The other 95% are independent PGs, the biggest dot on the map that nobody draws.

The map

PG chains and rental platforms in India, 2026

Bubble size shows beds where a 2024–26 figure is published. Dashed outlines mean no recent figure; marketplaces list rooms rather than run beds.

HAUS analysis. Placement is editorial, based on each company's model and published price points. Beds: company sites and media reports, 2024–26. Coloured by group: managed at scale (orange), branded and premium (purple), marketplaces (blue), shrunk (grey).

How to read it

Left to right is how much of the stay the company controls. On the far left, platforms list rooms that other people own and run. On the far right, operators lease whole buildings, furnish them, cook, clean and collect rent through an app. Asset-light operators like Tribe and CoHo sit a little left of the big operators: they manage buildings without taking on as much of the property.

Bottom to top is price. Budget means shared rooms for students and first jobbers; premium means private rooms, design-led buildings and hotel-style service, typically for working professionals.

The four corners

Managed at scale (bottom right): Stanza Living, Zolo, Settl, Isthara, CoHo

The volume players. They win on consistency: the same app, menu and maintenance standard in every building. Stanza is the largest by revenue (₹545.5 crore in FY25) and Zolo is the fastest-growing of the big two (revenue up 67% to ₹342.3 crore in FY25, with losses narrowing).

Branded living (top right): Colive, Your-Space, Housr, Tribe Stays

Higher rents, fewer people per room, more design. Colive raised a $20 million Series B in May 2026 and is moving towards purpose-built buildings; Tribe sells luxury managed stays in Pune. This is where the money is flowing, because each bed earns more.

Find it yourself (bottom left): NoBroker, Housing.com, MagicBricks, 99acres, Justdial

Discovery engines. They have the traffic: 99acres, Housing.com and MagicBricks each get more than 8 million visits a month. But the stay itself is between you and the owner. NoBroker has raised about $368 million and reported ₹803 crore of FY24 revenue, but rentals are now one business among many for it.

White space (top left): premium stays you find yourself

Almost nobody serves renters who want a premium room and are happy to deal directly with an independent owner. The independents who are winning here fill the gap with good photos, written agreements and digital rent, and their buildings start to feel branded.

Scale and money

Beds under management

Latest published figure (2024–26)

Sources: Stanza Living site (2026); The Realty Today (Jan 2025); Business Standard (Jul 2025); Settl (Jan 2024); MediaBrief (Nov 2025). Colive reports residents rather than beds.

Annual revenue, latest reported year

₹ crore

Sources: Entrackr (Stanza Living, Your-Space); Ascendants (Zolo).

Side-by-side comparison

Player	Model	Scale	Cities	Price	Funding	Status
Stanza Living	Managed operator	50,000+ beds, 350+ residences	15–16	Mid	~$231M	Growing FY25 revenue ₹545.5 cr; profitable on other income
Zolo	Managed operator	~50,000 beds, 300+ properties	13	Budget–mid	~$90M	Growing FY25 revenue ₹342.3 cr (+67%), loss ₹35.2 cr
Colive	Managed operator, moving to purpose-built	15,000+ residents	4	Mid–premium	$20M Series B (May 2026)	Growing Targets 50,000 beds in three years
Settl	Managed operator	~4,000 beds, 60+ centres (2024)	4	Mid (₹12.5k–18k/bed)	₹15 cr	Growing Expanding
Your-Space	Managed student housing	60+ properties	14	Mid–premium	~$17.6M incl. debt	Growing FY24 revenue ₹142.7 cr, loss ₹30.7 cr
Housr	Managed operator	Not disclosed	5	Mid–premium	~$11–12M	Steady Active, adding serviced homes
Tribe Stays	Asset-light managed	650 beds	1 (Pune)	Premium	$2.8M seed	Growing Plans 1,000 more beds this year
Isthara	Managed operator + food courts	24,000+ beds (2022)	n/a	Budget–mid	~$21M	Steady No recent figures published
CoHo	Asset-light managed	3,000+ beds (2021–22)	2	Mid	~$3M	Steady No recent figures published
NoBroker	Owner-direct marketplace	Listings, no beds	Metros	Free / freemium	~$368M	Steady FY24 revenue ₹803 cr; rentals now one of many lines
Housing.com	Listings marketplace	Listings, no beds	Pan-India	Free	REA Group-owned	Steady Active, with a PG / co-living section
Nestaway	Managed rentals	18,000 homes (2023), down from 50,000	n/a	Budget–mid	~$115M	Shrunk / exited Sold to Aurum PropTech for ~$11M in 2023
Hello World	Managed operator (Nestaway brand)	~10,000 beds (2019)	15 (2019)	Budget–mid	$10M	Shrunk / exited Much smaller today
OYO Life	Managed operator	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Shrunk / exited Exited in 2021

Figures are the latest each company or a named publication has released; older figures are dated. n/a means no figure was published.

Who fell off the map

The market has already shaken out once. OYO Life was wound down in 2021, with thousands of beds shut or turned into hotel rooms. Nestaway, once valued at about $227 million, was sold to Aurum PropTech in 2023 for about $11 million, and its homes under management had fallen from about 50,000 to 18,000. Its co-living brand Hello World went from about 10,000 beds in 2019 to a fraction of that.

The lesson the survivors took: grow only where occupancy holds up. Most operators now run at 85–90% occupancy, and healthy ones aim for 92–95%.

What it means for independent owners

If you run a PG, you're part of the 95%. The chains aren't beating independents on location or price. They win on four things a resident notices in the first month:

Paying rent is easy: an app or UPI link with the exact amount, and a receipt every time.
The agreement is clear: signed on day one, with deposit and notice terms nobody argues about later.
Problems get fixed, and the resident can see who's on it.
Notices reach everyone, not just whoever reads the WhatsApp group.

All four are software, not real estate. HAUS gives independent owners the chain-grade toolkit (bed map, UPI rent links, e-signed agreements, an issue tracker and a resident portal) without handing their building to an operator. It's free for up to 15 beds.

Some owners do lease their buildings to operators instead. Colliers notes those leases typically run three to nine years. Running it yourself with better tools keeps the upside, and the relationship with your residents, with you.

FAQ

Which is the biggest PG company in India?

Stanza Living and Zolo are the largest managed PG and co-living operators, with about 50,000 beds each according to recent company and media figures. Stanza reported ₹545.5 crore of revenue in FY25 and Zolo ₹342.3 crore.

What is the difference between a PG chain and a platform like NoBroker?

A PG chain such as Stanza Living or Zolo leases or owns buildings and runs them, so it controls the rooms, food and service. A platform such as NoBroker or Housing.com lists rooms owned by other people and connects you to them.

Is Nestaway still operating?

Nestaway was acquired by Aurum PropTech in 2023 for about $11 million, far below its earlier valuation of about $227 million, and it now operates as part of the Aurum group.

Is co-living better than a PG?

Co-living usually means a branded, managed building with app-based rent and services, at a higher price. A PG is often run by an individual owner and is cheaper. Colliers estimates co-living is 20–35% cheaper than renting a comparable one-bedroom flat.