Mumbai, May 20 (IANS) India’s top three southern cities – Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai – dominated Global Capability Centre (GCC) office space leasing in Q1 (January-March) 2025 with a 64 per cent overall share, according to a report released on Tuesday.

GCCs have been ramping up their presence on India’s commercial real estate landscape in the last few years, with government initiatives announced in the Union Budget further accelerating this trend.

The top cities are witnessing escalating demand from both new GCC entrants and those expanding their existing operations. Approximately 8.35 million square feet gross office space has been leased by GCCs in Q1 2025 across the country’s top 7 cities, said the report by by real estate consultancy Anarock.

Peush Jain, MD at Anarock Group said, “GCCs in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad collectively leased approximately 5.34 mn sq ft of gross office space in Q1 2025, followed by Delhi-NCR which saw 1.95 mn sq ft gross office space leased to GCCs”.

Of the gross office space leasing recorded in the top seven cities in Q1, GCCs accounted for about 43 per cent overall share. In Q1 2024, they had leased about 4.87 mn sq ft. In short, there has been a 72 per cent annual jump in their office space absorption, Jain mentioned.

City-wise data indicates that Bengaluru leads in gross leasing by GCCs in Q1 2025 with a 40 per cent share, or approx. 3.3 mn sq ft, followed by Delhi-NCR with a 23 per cent share – or nearly 1.91 mn sq ft and Chennai with 1.22 mn sq ft, or a 15 per cent share.

A sector-wise analysis shows that of the overall GCC leasing of 8.35 mn sq ft office space in top 7 cities in Q1 2025, IT/ITeS held the lion’s share with 35 per cent. BFSI came next with a 22 per cent share, followed by manufacturing and industrial with 13 per cent.

E-commerce held a 6 per cent share, and consultancy businesses had a share of 5 per cent. The remaining 19 per cent were leased by miscellaneous sectors. Notably, though IT/ITeS continues to dominate overall GCC leasing, other sectors like BFSI and manufacturing and industrial are also gaining ground, said the report.

“Driven by India’s rising economic influence over the last two to three years, GCCs are deploying not just in the top 7 cities but also in various Tier 2 and 3 cities, including Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Coimbatore.This is due to a combination of factors, including a growing skilled workforce beyond the metros, cost competitiveness, supportive government policies, and concerted infrastructure development in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, Jain added.

–IANS

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