While a significant number of PGs in the city have shut down over the last year, many others are struggling to stay afloat, those in the business said, adding they are seeing a loss of close to 25 per cent.

Paying Guest (PG) accommodations in Bengaluru, which were just recovering from pandemic-induced losses, are reeling yet again after being buffeted by a perfect storm of crises. New BBMP norms, layoffs in the tech sector and a drastic rise in power and water bills have whipsawed PGs that provide affordable stay for many in the city where rents are soaring.

While a significant number of PGs in the city have shut down over the last year, many others are struggling to stay afloat, those in the business said, adding they are seeing a loss of close to 25%.

At least two PGs in every area in the city have shut down and the numbers are significantly higher in and around Marathahalli and Sarjapur, which attract a large number of guests from the IT sector.

“Only those who run multiple branches are managing to run them,” said Aruna Kumar D T, President, PG Owners Welfare Association. “Many of those who were running just one PG have shut doors. Even those staying afloat are seeing a dip in the number of guests and have reported a loss of 20%-25%.”

Recently, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) also sealed close to 100 PGs in Mahadevapura, as many of them had failed to adhere to the norms and did not have a trade licence.

In August 2024, after a murder was reported at a PG in the city, both the BBMP and the police cracked down on illegal PGs and introduced more norms to ensure safety and hygiene in these establishments. However, this ended up shutting down many PGs.

“In areas like Marathahalli, many PGs had cropped up to meet the growing demand. However, a large number of them were illegal and many of them have now shut down,” said Sukhi Seo, secretary of the Bengaluru PG owners’ association.

A BBMP rule that insisted that no PGs should be run in residential areas where the road width is less than 40 feet also sealed the fate of many PGs, representatives noted.

The associations have met both the BBMP and BWSSB officials recently, urging them to consider them as residential consumers.

With increasing water and power tariffs, it is also difficult to run the business at an affordable price, Seo noted.

“Many of our guests are students. We do not want to burden them with higher rents. But the increasing costs and changes to be made to abide by norms laid out by the civic body is only burning a hole in our pocket. It is difficult to keep the business running with such losses,” she said.

BBMP mulls relaxing norms

The BBMP had made it mandatory for PGs to register with the civic body. However, only around 2,500 of them have registered.

This, sources said, could be because many of them do not meet the standards set by the BBMP. Considering this and the petition by associations, the BBMP is mulling relaxing a few criteria, including the need to set up PGs only in roads which are over 40 feet wide.