News

According to a new report released on Wednesday, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) not only supported but also significantly boosted the Indian office market in 2025 by contributing to 38 per cent of total annual transactions of 31.8 million square feet. This corroborates the view of India being an attractive place for basic and applied research, plus other businesses related to its support globally.

GCC leasing activity saw Bengaluru alone taking the significant share of 47 per cent (15.2 mn sq ft). Annual gross leasing overall shot up to 86.4 million square feet, recording a 20 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase, which also made it surpass the pre-pandemic peak of 2024.

The level of activity was also 43 per cent above the pre-pandemic high of 2019, thus reflecting the four-year-long continuous growth of tenant demand, as per the report from Knight Frank India.

Bengaluru maintained its position of the largest office market by grossing 28 million square feet, which was the best in history for this market.

Other cities like Hyderabad (11.4 mn sq ft), Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) (11.3 mn sq ft), Pune (10.8 mn sq ft) and Chennai (10.1 mn sq ft) managed to cross the 10 mn sq ft mark while Mumbai (9.8 mn sq ft) was just below it, according to the findings.

“India's office market delivered an exceptional performance in 2025, decisively surpassing its previous peak and underscoring the depth and breadth of occupier confidence across the country. With annual leasing volumes rising more than 20 per cent year on year, the current cycle marks not just a numerical high but a structural shift in how global and domestic enterprises view India as a long-term business destination,” explained Shishir Baijal, International Partner, Chairman and Managing Director, as reported by IANS.

The expansion has a geographically diversified nature as evidenced by the fact that five major markets surpassed their previous transaction levels, each with more than 10 million sq ft in transactions, he noted.

Leasing activity during the second semester of 2025 amounted to 37.5 million sq ft, which is ranked second after the exceptionally high absorption of 48.9 million sq ft (January–June 2025) in the first half of the year.

Of the entire leasing activity in 2025, 22 per cent, which is 18.8 million sq ft, was occupied by flex space. The IT services sector has the largest share with 15.3 million sq ft, 20 per cent of total area leased, and a remarkable 94 per cent increase in volume year-on-year (YoY), the report stated.

In 2025, all office markets experienced rental appreciation mainly because of the scarcity of good quality space that was most pronounced in NCR and Hyderabad, with a 10 per cent increase each, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru with a 6 per cent increase in rentals each.