India’s economic outlook and advancing trade engagements are expected to catalyse office space demand as capability centres expand. The IMF revised its GDP growth projection for 2026 from six point one per cent to six point three per cent and forecast six point five per cent in 2027, reinforcing confidence in domestic demand. Colliers India indicated that bilateral deals with the US, EU and the UK are likely to lower entry barriers and encourage global capability centres (GCCs) to scale up operations across technology, banking and financial services, engineering and manufacturing and consulting.

Tariff rationalisation and service sector facilitation are expected to broaden market access and raise India’s competitiveness. Capability centres are increasingly hosting research, product development, engineering, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing functions. Annual Grade A office space uptake by GCCs could reach 35–40 million (mn) sq ft over the next few years, and GCCs could drive up to 50 per cent of office demand across the top seven markets.

Since 2020 cumulative gross absorption in India has reached 310 mn sq ft, of which GCCs accounted for about 117 mn sq ft, or around 38 per cent of leasing activity. GCC leasing rose from about 16 mn sq ft in 2020 to close to 30 mn sq ft in 2025, and their share of overall leasing increased from under 30 per cent to over 40 per cent in 2025. The shift reflects movement from transactional back office functions to innovation led, high value knowledge and research hubs.

Demand patterns vary by origin, with US headquartered GCCs dominated by technology firms and accounting for close to 70 per cent of GCC leasing since 2020. European firms are concentrated in engineering and manufacturing, while UK firms show a diversified profile led by banking and financial services and consulting. Colliers expects EU and UK firms to gain share as trade agreements progress and anticipates that BFSI together with engineering and manufacturing could contribute 40–50 per cent of space uptake in 2026.