India's Office Market Thrives in 2025 with GCCs Leading the Charge

Mumbai, Jan 7: A Record Year for India's Office Market

According to a recent report, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) played a pivotal role in the Indian office market in 2025, contributing to 38% of the total annual transactions, which amounted to 31.8 million square feet. This development has solidified India's status as a global hub for research, development, and related sectors.

Bengaluru emerged as a leader, capturing 47% of the GCC leasing activity, translating to 15.2 million square feet. The overall annual gross leasing reached 86.4 million square feet, marking a significant 20% increase compared to the previous year and surpassing the peak recorded in 2024.

This surge in activity reflects a 43% increase over the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019, indicating a robust demand from occupiers over the last four years, as highlighted in the Knight Frank India report.

Bengaluru maintained its position as the largest office market, achieving a historic high of 28 million square feet.

Other cities also showed impressive growth, with Hyderabad (11.4 million sq ft), Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) (11.3 million sq ft), Pune (10.8 million sq ft), and Chennai (10.1 million sq ft) all surpassing the 10 million square feet mark. Mumbai closely followed with 9.8 million square feet.

Shishir Baijal, International Partner, Chairman, and Managing Director, remarked, 'India's office market exhibited remarkable performance in 2025, significantly exceeding its previous peak and demonstrating the strong confidence of occupiers nationwide. The annual leasing volumes have increased by over 20% year-on-year, indicating not just a numerical high but a fundamental shift in how both global and domestic companies perceive India as a long-term business hub.'

The report also noted that five major markets achieved their highest transaction levels ever, each exceeding the 10 million square feet threshold, showcasing the diverse geographical nature of this growth.

In the second half of 2025, leasing activity reached 37.5 million square feet, following the exceptionally high absorption of 48.9 million square feet in the first half of the year.

Flexible workspaces accounted for 18.8 million square feet, representing 22% of the total gross leasing in 2025. Additionally, third-party IT services occupied 15.3 million square feet, making up 20% of the transacted area, with a remarkable 94% year-on-year growth.

All office markets experienced rental growth in 2025, primarily due to the limited availability of quality spaces. NCR and Hyderabad led with a 10% increase, while Mumbai and Bengaluru saw rental increases of 6%.