Foreign Firms Lease Record 9.1 Million Sq Ft Office Space for GCCs in Q1

Foreign firms leased a record 9.1 million sq ft office space last quarter across India's top 9 cities to set up Global Capability Centres (GCCs), according to CBRE. This leasing activity is a definitive signal of India's position as the global destination of choice for high-complexity capability functions.

Real estate consultant CBRE on Monday released its office market data for January-March period, which showed that the office space demand remained strong driven by leasing of workspaces for the establishment of GCCs. The total gross leasing of office spaces rose 5 per cent across the top 9 cities to 20.7 million square feet in January-March from 19.7 million square feet in the year-ago period.

The nine cities are Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Kochi. The leasing of space for GCCs stood at a record 9.1 million sq ft in the January-March period, the highest in any quarter.

"The record GCC leasing activity is a definitive signal of India's position as the global destination of choice for high-complexity capability functions," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO, India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE. He noted that this demand is not concentrated in a single sector but spans across sectors, including e-commerce, technology, and BFSI.

The demand is increasingly being driven by mid-market and nano GCCs alongside established Fortune 500 occupiers. The consultant said that American firms contributed 73 per cent of the total GCC leasing. Ram Chandnani, Managing Director, Leasing Services, India, CBRE, said the occupiers of workspaces are preferring green-certified, amenity-rich locations.

"As occupiers adopt AI-ready workspace strategies and GCCs evolve into multi-functional innovation hubs, we expect leasing momentum to remain healthy through 2026," he said. Bengaluru-led office leasing with a 29 per cent share, followed by Delhi-NCR (22 per cent) and Mumbai (16 per cent). These three cities accounted for around 67 per cent of the total gross office leasing across nine cities during the January-March period of 2026, the consultant said.