State initiatives aim to push GCC growth into India's smaller cities

India's state-level push to establish roughly 1,380 new Global Capability Centres and generate 1.18 million jobs by the 2029-31 period is set to drive office-space demand beyond the established tier-I metros. CBRE reports that GCCs have already secured more than 123 million sq ft of office space across the country's nine largest cities between 2022 and the first half of 2026. While Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Pune dominate current activity, the next wave is expected to move into tier-II and tier-III cities, attracted by cheaper rents, engineering talent pools and government incentives.

With 94% of the 2.36 million GCC professionals still based in six tier-I locations, emerging hubs have significant growth potential. Lease transactions exceeding 100,000 sq ft are increasingly underpinning GCC activity, and average deal sizes have risen 18-20% since 2023. Technology, banking-financial-services-insurance and engineering-manufacturing together account for more than half of GCC leasing, and many centres are expanding into research, AI, data, cybersecurity and product development functions.