GCCs power office Reit leasing as IT demand cools

Bengaluru: India’s office real estate investment trusts or Reits, which are the largest owners of commercial workspaces in the country, saw a sharp rise in demand and leasing during April-September, led by global capability centres (GCCs), despite the blip caused by the West Asia war.

GCCs account for a larger share of leasing across cities even as uncertainty over artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on office demand looms. The increased leasing by GCCs also comes at a time when demand from IT services firms, once the largest office occupiers, has shrunk.

India has six listed Reits—focused on office assets and one on retail—backed by global asset managers such as Blackstone and Brookfield, and leading office developers. Together, they manage over 200 million sq ft of Grade A office and retail assets across India.

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For Embassy Office Parks Reit, GCCs accounted for 85% of total leasing in the July-September quarter, up from 56% in the year-ago corresponding quarter.

Their share of leasing in the first half of FY27 rose to 83% from 61% in H1 FY26, reinforcing their role as a key demand driver.

“GCC-led leasing has strengthened significantly. While traditional IT services-led demand is normalizing, GCC expansion is gaining momentum, driven by both existing occupiers and new entrants establishing higher-value functions across engineering, R&D, AI and analytics. This reflects a structural shift in India’s office demand towards higher-value global operations,” Amit Shetty, CEO, Embassy Reit told Mint.

Of the 1.6 million sq ft Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (Biret) leased in the September quarter, GCCs accounted for 51%. The company said lease renewals and expansions by high-quality GCC tenants demonstrated their stickiness, according to an earnings presentation this week.

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Mindspace Business Parks Reit has seen GCC share of leasing rising to 52% compared to 48% two years ago. In contrast, IT services leasing has dropped to 21% from 24%. The company counts several GCCs of companies, including British Petroleum, Hitachi, JP Morgan, Qualcomm, among others, as its tenants.

“GCC demand remains strong, and we have requirements for space by them only going up, particularly in cities such as Hyderabad,” managing director and CEO Ramesh Nair said.

Record leasing

Office leasing is expected to hit a record high in 2027, industry players said. It is expected to surpass record gross leasing of 83 million sq ft seen in 2025. As per an October report by property advisory JLL India, gross office leasing in the January-September period hit a record 61.06 million sq ft, up 8.1% year on year. GCCs leased 26.2 million sq ft during the period, equivalent to 84% of the space they took up in all of 2025.

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“India’s office market showed resilience despite the geo-political challenges. The growth in GCC leasing has not happened overnight,” said Hugh Andrew, CEO of Blackstone-backed Bagmane Prime Office REIT, the youngest listed Reit in the country. “There may have been a little hiatus in planning but the demand curve is strong. Leasing 1.2 million sq ft (96% to GCCs) in a single quarter, with half of it committed before the buildings are complete, tells you where global occupiers want to be.”

“GCCs continue to choose Bengaluru, and within Bengaluru, they are choosing quality, scale and a landlord that can grow with them. We signed leases above market rents and moved committed occupancy to 99%,” Andrew added.

Higher leasing demand has also lifted committed occupancy across Reit portfolios. Knowledge Realty Trust’s committed occupancy has risen from 92% to 94% in the past year, while Bagmane Reit’s stands at 98.7% across its 16.6 million sq ft completed portfolio.

The five office Reits – Biret, Embassy, Mindspace Business Parks, Knowledge Realty Trust and Bagmane Prime Office —and the retail-focused Nexus Select Trust had gross assets under management (AUM) of more than ₹3.17 trillion as of June end. The combined market capitalization exceeded ₹2.17 trillion as of 11 August, the Indian REITs Association (IRA) said in a release.