Tech sector rebounds: GCCs deliver 68.1 million sq. ft of leasing post-Covid, an 18.6% growth compared to the pre-Covid period: JLL

• Global Capability Centre (GCCs) delivered 18.6% growth post-COVID while Foreign Tech contracted 21.2%.
• Business services exports jumped from 19% to 26%, reflecting India's move to high- value operations.
• Bengaluru and Hyderabad lead in GCC leasing based on skill availability, not just cost.
• Over 190 GCC units now operate in emerging cities, creating diversification opportunities.

MUMBAI, JUNE 28, 2024: While the global economic landscape has seen its ebbs and flows, and the very nature of work has undergone significant shifts, India's technology sector has consistently remained the mainstay of office demand. From 2017 through Q1 2025, the sector amassed an impressive 130.8 million sq. ft of gross leasing, accounting for ~31% of the cumulative gross leasing across the top seven markets of India. After a temporary dip during the pandemic, tech sector leasing has strongly rebounded to 26% in 2024 and further to 30% of total office leasing in Q1 2025 (January- March 2025).

Gross Leasing by tech occupiers

“The narrative of India's office market is linked to the evolution of our tech sector. While the overall sector remains the anchor, it is the GCC segment that is now in the driver's seat,” said Dr. Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS, India, JLL. “Global firms are not just outsourcing to India; they are building their core capabilities here. This is a structural shift that has profound implications for real estate. GCCs collectively delivered 68.1 million sq. ft of leasing post- COVID (2022-24), marking an impressive 18.6% growth over the pre-Covid period (2017-19). In stark contrast, leasing by Foreign Tech (exclusive of GCCs) contracted by 21.2% over the same comparative periods. This highlights a strategic realignment as global firms increasingly prioritize in- house capabilities within India via the GCC route. Meanwhile, Domestic Tech showed modest growth of 11.9%, which provides a crucial layer of resilience to the overall market,” he added.

Gross leasing breakup basis occupier type

India's GCCs are rapidly transitioning from basic cost-arbitrage centers to become hubs for innovation, research and development, and global business transformation. This evolution is mirrored in India's service export trends, where the proportion of business services has grown significantly from 19% in 2017-18 to 26% in 2023-24. This increase signals that India is exporting more high-value, complex services, rather than just transactional IT support. The consistent growth of business services, contrasting with the stable share of software services, underscores India's move up the value chain in the global services market.

Real estate decisions are no longer about just cost, but about proximity to specialized skill sets. Talent access has become the single most important factor in location selection.

“We are witnessing a clear 'flight to quality' and a 'flight to talent.' Tech occupiers, especially GCCs, are laser-focused on securing Grade A office spaces in markets with high concentrations of skilled professionals. Bengaluru and Hyderabad account for a combined share of 64% in GCC leasing and this dominance is no coincidence; it’s a strategic decision based on their unparalleled talent ecosystems. Furthermore, the rise of emerging markets like Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore and Jaipur, which now host over 190 GCC units, presents the next frontier of growth, offering cost and talent diversification benefits that forward-thinking companies are already leveraging,” said Rahul Arora, Head - Office Leasing & Retail Services, Senior Managing Director (Karnataka, Kerala), India, JLL.

There is a profound and strategic preference of GCCs for Bengaluru and Hyderabad, accounting for a combined 64% of GCC leasing. This is directly attributable to the large, continuously refreshed pools of high-calibre engineering and digital talent combined with competitive real estate costs and mature Grade A office stock. Bengaluru's million-strong tech talent pool drives its dominance as India's premier R&D hub, attracting strategic occupiers seeking the optimal combination of skilled workforce and quality office space.

Foreign tech occupiers show a clear preference for Delhi NCR, leveraging the region’s abundant core tech talent, robust infrastructure and proximity to key clients. This pattern is often seen in firms that pre-date the widespread GCC model or have specific business development mandates that benefit from the capital's extensive commercial ecosystem.

Homegrown tech firms maintain a more distributed presence, reflecting their broad pan-India business footprints and need to access diverse talent corridors. While Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad remain vital hubs, their balanced approach underlines a strategy to access diverse talent corridors. This allows them to support large-scale operations and tap into various skill sets without over-reliance on a single, highly competitive talent pool.

Cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata play critical, specialized roles.

Mumbai emerges as a magnet for BFSI and management talent within the tech domain. Pune and Chennai serve as deep hubs for specialized R&D, ERP implementation, and product development.

In every instance, leasing decisions in these markets are tightly coupled with the availability of relevant, niche talent, showcasing a precision-driven location strategy that looks beyond raw numbers to skill-specific ecosystems.

India's commercial real estate market is undergoing a fundamental transformation driven by technology sector dynamics, with several key trends emerging. The relationship between talent and real estate has become symbiotic and self-reinforcing. Established tech hubs like Bengaluru and Hyderabad continue to dominate not because of cost advantages, but due to deep talent pools that create virtuous cycles of growth and innovation. Ther is a strategic shift from traditional single-location models to more sophisticated hub-and-spoke approaches. Organizations are maintaining innovation centres in Tier-I cities while leveraging emerging Tier-II and Tier-III locations for business continuity and cost optimization. For property investors and developers, asset obsolescence has become a critical concern. The market increasingly rewards properties with advanced digital infrastructure and collaborative environments that cater specifically to tech occupiers' evolving needs. There is an emergence of integrated “live-work-play” environments and complementary asset classes like data centres and specialized R&D facilities - signalling that real estate success in India now depends less on traditional metrics like rent levels and more on understanding talent flows and technological imperatives. This evolution represents a paradigm shift where workspace strategy and talent strategy have become inseparable, fundamentally changing how location decisions are made across the Indian commercial real estate landscape.

JLL is India’s premier and largest professional services firm specialising in real estate. The Firm has grown from strength to strength in India for the past two decades. JLL India has an extensive presence across 10 major cities (Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Coimbatore) and over 130 tier-II and III markets with a cumulative strength of over 16,000 professionals. The Firm provides investors, developers, local corporates, and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services. These include leasing, capital markets, research & advisory, transaction management, project development, facility management and property & asset management. These services cover various asset classes such as commercial, industrial, warehouse and logistics, data centres, residential, retail, hospitality, healthcare, senior living, and education. For further information, please visit jll.com.