Mehrotra sees 35-40m sq ft Grade A space demand
Recent trade agreements with the US, UK and EU can potentially boost foreign investments in India and amplify real estate demand across economic sectors including Global Capability Centres (GCCs), says Arpit Mehrotra, Managing Director, Office Services, Colliers India.
“This is likely to complement the regulatory push and ongoing policy tailwinds, boosting the annual demand for Grade A office space in India,” said Mehrotra, anticipating 35-40 million sq ft of annual GCC leasing, accounting for 40-50% of the overall office space demand over the course of next few years.
“While technology-based GCC demand from US firms can stabilize, we anticipate increasing traction from companies of EU and UK origin, especially within the engineering & manufacturing, BFSI and consulting domains,”
India’s office market has scaled up significantly in recent years with consecutive demand peaks in the post-pandemic era. This scaling up has been powered by GCCs, which have moved beyond cost-arbitrage centres and transitioned into innovation-driven globally integrated knowledge & research hubs.
Of the 310 million sq ft of cumulative office space demand since 2020, GCCs have accounted for around 117 million sq ft of office space, representing 38% of the overall leasing activity in India.
In fact, the steady growth in GCC demand is evident from the increase in space uptake from around 16 million sq ft in 2020 to close to 30 million sq ft in 2025.
Simultaneously, the GCCs share in India’s overall leasing activity has increased from sub 30% levels few years ago to over 40% in 2025, further adding credentials to the ongoing transformation of GCCs.
Notably, GCCs headquartered in the US, EU and UK continue to drive this transformation – contributing nearly one-third of the overall office space demand in India since 2020, Mehrotra believes.
Demand from US headquartered GCCs continue to be dominated by Technology firms (47% share in US based GCC leasing), alongside a notable presence of BFSI companies (21% share). EU-origin companies are predominantly anchored in Engineering & Manufacturing sector, which accounts for ~60% of their GCC demand in India.
Tariff concessions and secured market access in the India-EU trade agreement can indirectly boost office space demand from such firms in India.
Meanwhile, UK-origin GCC demand patterns show a diversified occupier profile led by BFSI firms (29% share) and Consulting players (23% share).
In fact, GCC leasing is increasingly becoming broad-based, with global companies across sectors expanding their operations in India.
Moreover, leasing volumes by BFSI, engineering & manufacturing, and healthcare GCCs have been on the upswing in recent years. While US GCCs have driven space uptake, accounting for nearly 70% of the total GCC demand since 2020, their share is expected to moderate over the next few years. Simultaneously, driven by the trade agreements, EU and UK based GCCs are expected to gain traction in the near-mid term.
“GCCs will continue to anchor India’s office space demand, supporting the ongoing scale-up and diversification of occupier base,” says Vimal Nadar, National Director & Head of Research, Colliers India.
“With global trade frictions relatively moderating, supported by recent developments pertaining to bilateral agreements between India and its leading trade partners, we envisage positive sentiments to translate into traction across key demand drivers of Indian office market.
“Although GCC leasing will continue to be driven by technology sector, the demand is likely to become broad-based, with BFSI and engineering & manufacturing firms expected to contribute 40–50% of the space uptake in 2026,” Nadar said on 19 Feb.
Overall nuanced demand patterns underscore the Indian GCC ecosystem alignment with high-value, domain-intensive functions rather than transactional back-office operations. Additionally skilled talent availability and cost arbitrage will continue to fuel expansion of capability centres in India. Fiinews.com
