GCC India: How Global Capability Centres Are Reshaping Commercial Real Estate Demand

A decade ago, global enterprises viewed India primarily as a destination for cost optimisation and operational support. Today, the narrative has evolved dramatically — and the numbers now bear this out more clearly than ever.

In H1 2026, Global Capability Centres accounted for a record 45% of all office space leased across India's top 7 cities, up from 41% a year ago. Their gross leasing rose 22% year-on-year to 19.2 Mn sf, comfortably outpacing the 11% growth in overall gross office leasing nationally. India has emerged as one of the world's most important hubs for innovation, product development, digital transformation, and enterprise operations, and GCCs are now, unambiguously, the single largest force shaping the country's office market.

For India's office market, the rise of GCCs is more than a business trend — it is a structural shift that is redefining office leasing, workplace strategy, and long-term investment opportunities.

India's Global Capability Centre (GCC) ecosystem has evolved into one of the country's strongest engines of economic growth. India is home to over 2,100 GCCs, employing nearly 2 million professionals, making it the largest GCC ecosystem globally.

India is rapidly evolving from traditional back-office operations into strategic hubs for innovation, product development, engineering, artificial intelligence, analytics, cybersecurity, and enterprise transformation. This is playing out visibly in ANAROCK's leasing data: within GCC transactions in H1 2026, IT-ITeS's share actually strengthened to 38% (from 35% in H1 2025), while manufacturing/industrial and consultancy mandates rose to 15% and 7% respectively — evidence that India's GCCs are being handed a widening set of core functions rather than a narrowing one.

The long-term outlook remains highly encouraging. Industry estimates suggest that India could host over 2400 GCCs by 2030, with the sector expected to employ well over 2.5 million professionals and contribute significantly to the country's knowledge economy.

This structural transformation is translating into sustained demand for high-quality commercial real estate. As GCCs expand in scale and sophistication, organisations are increasingly seeking larger, technology-enabled, ESG-compliant and future-ready office campuses that support collaboration, innovation, and long-term growth. Large format transactions exceeding 0.1 Mn sf now account for 59% of national office leasing, up from

57% a year ago, driven by GCCs and large enterprises consolidating multiple smaller leases into larger campuses.

India's GCC ecosystem has matured into a strategic business platform for multinational corporations.

While access to talent remains a major advantage, companies are increasingly choosing India for a combination of factors, including a highly skilled workforce, a thriving technology ecosystem, robust digital infrastructure, and a mature business environment. India has the world's second-largest STEM graduate talent pool, producing 2.55 million graduates annually.

Today, GCCs are responsible for far more than back-office functions. Many centres now lead global initiatives in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, product engineering, analytics, finance, and business operations. This is visible in the national occupier mix: even as GCC leasing volumes grew, IT-ITeS's share of overall office leasing narrowed to 26% in H1 2026 (from 29% in H1 2025). Co-working's rise to a near-equal 25% share explains part of this, but GCCs account for much of the remaining shift, as their expanding footprint across finance, engineering and analytics functions increasingly gets captured under BFSI, manufacturing and consultancy tags rather than pure technology delivery roles.

As organisations expand these capabilities, they require larger, smarter, and more sophisticated workplaces that can support innovation, collaboration and future growth.

This evolution is creating sustained demand for high-quality office assets across India's major commercial markets.

India is home to the largest concentration of Global Capability Centres worldwide and continues to attract both new entrants and expansion mandates from existing multinational corporations.

The country's success is not driven by cost competitiveness alone. It is increasingly fuelled by its ability to provide scale, talent, domain expertise and business continuity.

For global organisations, India has become a strategic growth engine rather than simply an execution destination.

Bengaluru remains, by some distance, India's GCC capital. The city's GCC leasing rose to 7.6 Mn sf in H1 2026, lifting its share of the country's total GCC pool to 39% (from 28% a year ago) a reflection of the city's deep talent base and established technology ecosystem.

But the growth story is becoming increasingly diversified, and the H1 2026 numbers make this explicit. Hyderabad posted the sharpest GCC momentum among the established markets, with GCC leasing up 68% year-on-year to 3.1 Mn sf, taking its national share to 16% from 9%. This GCC-led demand also flowed through to the city's broader leasing performance: Hyderabad's net office absorption rose 24% to 5.2 Mn sf, overtaking both MMR and NCR to become India's second-largest office market by half-year take-up, at a 19% share of national absorption.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) recorded the sharpest percentage jump of all: its GCC leasing nearly tripled to 2.7 Mn sf, lifting its share to 14% from just 5% a year earlier, even though BFSI — not GCC-branded demand — still anchors the bulk of MMR's occupier base.

Pune held broadly steady at 1.87 Mn sf of GCC leasing (a slight 3% dip), keeping its national share close to 10% as the city continues to strengthen its position as a leading engineering and product development hub. NCR and Chennai were the two markets to see GCC activity contract this half — NCR's GCC leasing fell 23% to 2.2 Mn sf (trimming its share to 11% from 15%), while Chennai's fell 37% to 1.75 Mn sf (down to a 9% share from 14%) — even as both cities' overall office markets stayed resilient on the back of co-working and BFSI demand. Kolkata's GCC leasing, while still small in absolute terms, tripled to 0.15 Mn sf, a sign of gradually strengthening occupier confidence in the market.

This geographic diversification is creating new office leasing opportunities across multiple markets and supporting the development of world-class commercial districts throughout the country. The result is a stronger and more resilient office market ecosystem that extends well beyond a handful of traditional technology hubs.

The rise of GCCs is not only increasing office demand, it is changing the nature of demand itself.

Today's occupiers are prioritising Grade-A office assets that offer flexibility, sustainability, wellness-focused amenities, advanced technology infrastructure, and superior employee experiences.

Location decisions are increasingly influenced by access to talent, workplace quality, public transportation, and long-term business objectives rather than rental considerations alone.

This shift is reinforcing the flight-to-quality trend across India's office market. Pan-India, average office rentals rose 9% year-on-year to INR 96/sf/month in H1 2026, even as average vacancy eased to 15% from 16.3%, a combination that reflects landlords' improving pricing power in the very markets and micro-markets where GCC and other large-format demand is running ahead of new completions.

For developers and landlords, understanding GCC workplace requirements is becoming critical to maintaining asset competitiveness.

The relationship between GCC expansion and commercial real estate is becoming increasingly interconnected.

As Global Capability Centres evolve into innovation hubs, their workspace requirements continue to expand in both scale and sophistication. This is driving demand for larger campuses, collaborative work environments, flexible workplace solutions, and ESG-compliant office developments.

For commercial leasing stakeholders, GCCs are now among the most influential occupier groups shaping market dynamics. In H1 2026, India's top 7 office markets recorded net absorption of 27.4 Mn sf, up 2% over H1 2025, even as new completions eased 10% to 22.2 Mn sf, with GCCs, at 45% of gross leasing, doing much of the heavy lifting behind that demand.

Their expansion decisions directly impact office absorption, rental growth, development pipelines, and investment activity across India's major business districts.

Simply put, the future of office leasing growth in India is closely linked to the future of GCC India.

The outlook for India's GCC ecosystem remains exceptionally strong.

GCC leasing grew 22% in H1 2026, compared to 11% growth in overall gross leasing across the top 7 office markets and given GCCs' expanding presence across BFSI, manufacturing and consultancy functions, not just IT-ITeS, the sector-wise leasing data likely continues to understate their true footprint. Hyderabad and MMR, which posted the sharpest GCC year-on-year growth in H1 2026, are best placed to capture a continuing share of this expansion, while Bengaluru's scale advantage should keep it the largest single beneficiary in absolute terms.

As multinational organisations continue to expand their technology, engineering, research, and innovation capabilities, India is expected to remain a preferred destination for global capability centres. Emerging markets and supportive state policies will further strengthen the country's position, while established office hubs continue to attract high-value investments and expansion mandates.

For occupiers, developers, and investors, the GCC expansion story is fundamentally an office leasing story.

The next wave of demand for Grade-A workspaces, innovation-led campuses and future-ready office environments will be driven by organisations that increasingly view India not as a support destination, but as a strategic business hub.

The question is no longer whether India will remain a global GCC leader.

The question is how significantly GCC India will shape the future of commercial real estate over the next decade.