MUMBAI: Global capability centres (GCCs) have leased around 100 million sqft of office space across the top seven cities since 2021, driving record-breaking transactions across these cities.
As much as 36% of the overall office demand in 2025 so far has been from GCCs, who have leased out 28 million sqft, which is nearly double the volume seen in 2021. The demand is likely to grow 15-20% in the next two years, global real estate consultancy Colliers said in a report.
The report further notes that the share of GCCs in overall office leasing, which had dipped to less than 30% in 2022, has rebounded sharply to nearly 40% in 2025. This growth trajectory is expected to sustain, with GCC leasing projected at 60–65 million sqft during 2026–27, a 15-20% growth compared to the preceding two-year period.
The technology sector continues to dominate GCC demand with a 37% share, while BFSI, engineering and manufacturing companies brought multi-fold growth together driving 40% of space uptake, the report added.
Among the seven cities, Bengaluru and Hyderabad drove as much as 60% of GCC leasing since 2021, while Chennai saw 5.3x demand growth from offshore captive business units and the top 10 micro-markets attract over 70% of GCC demand since 2021 led by the outer ring road area of Bengaluru and the secondary business district (SBD) of Hyderabad.
“GCCs continue to remain the cornerstone of the office market demand, powering its ongoing scale-up. Capability centers are steadily evolving into innovation-driven, domain-specialized, and technologically integrated centers, and are likely to drive over 40% of the office space demand," said Arpit Mehrotra, managing director, office services, at Colliers India.
“In the next two years alone, GCCs are likely to lease 60-65 million sqft of Grade A space across the top seven cities (Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune), unlocking significant real estate opportunities, fueling demand for high-quality spaces, and cementing their role as the critical growth engine of the domestic office market,” he added.
He feels that GCCs will continue to anchor the domestic office space demand, supporting the ongoing scale-up and diversification. While technology firms continue to drive Grade A space uptake within GCCs, the demand is becoming broader, with BFSI, engineering and manufacturing together expected to contribute 40–50% of leasing.
On the continuing demand growth in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which have established themselves as leading GCC hubs leasing out over 60 million sqft since 2021, he said both these cities cumulatively drove more than 60% of total GCC demand during 2021-25.
Notably, Bengaluru stands out as the premier hub not only for technology GCCs but also for global engineering & manufacturing firms. Mumbai, on the other hand, is favored by front-end BFSI players, while Pune attracts leading financial institutions, particularly for support service operations. In the East, Kolkata has become a natural choice for technology and consulting GCCs seeking a presence in that region.
American companies, led by Fortune 500 corporations, have been leading the GCC demand across the top seven cities, accounting for nearly 70% of total GCC absorption since 2021.
Interestingly in recent years, GCCs from England, MENA, and the Apac regions have also expanded their footprint. Of the estimated 28 million sqft uptake by GCCs in 2025, around 10% is likely to come from global corporates across Apac and primarily from Japan, Australia and Singapore.