In the calendar year 2024, India’s office market has become a key hub for global companies expanding their workforce and real estate footprint, as evidenced by a historic peak in net absorption reaching 49.56 million sq. ft, JLL said in its latest report.
The year concluded with an exceptional fourth quarter (October-December 2024), marked by record net absorption figures of 18.53 million sq. ft, underscoring the robust growth in this sector.
The top seven cities’ (Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune) quarterly net absorption figures had Bengaluru posting its best quarter, while accounting for a 36.1% share, signalling the strong occupier demand that remains sustained for this city.
Hyderabad jumped to the second spot with a 16.0% share followed by Delhi NCR with 15.4% and Chennai with 11.5% share in the quarterly net absorption numbers.
For the full year (January-December 2024), Bengaluru led the charge with 2024 being its best year yet in net absorption terms while Mumbai also saw decadal high numbers.
Strong annual performance across Delhi NCR and Hyderabad also contributed to the continued growth momentum in the office market.
These four cities accounted for 77.8% share of the annual net absorption number in 2024.
“In 2024, India’s office market shattered expectations, with leasing activity across the top seven cities reaching an unprecedented 77.22 million square feet—a 22.6% year-on-year increase, marking the highest annual leasing ever recorded. Global companies played a crucial role, driving 58.6% of leasing activity, as India remains central to their real estate expansion plans.
Global Capability Centres (GCCs) had a standout year, capturing 35.9% of the market with approximately 28 million square feet leased.
As India’s position as the ‘office to the world’ strengthens, its focus on AI and emerging technologies, alongside engineering R&D capabilities, is expected to further propel demand, making it a key destination for headcount growth and innovation over the next decade,” said Dr Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research and REIS, India, JLL.
Q4 2024 turned out to be the best performing quarter in terms of gross leasing at 23.80 million sq. ft, easily surpassing the previous peak recorded in the same period a year ago, by a factor of 13.6%.
With a strong kick in the year-end by technology based GCCs, they stood as the biggest sub-segment by share in the overall GCC leasing volumes.
This has been driven by large volumes of AI and related domain work increasingly coming into the country, chasing the quality talent pool.
BFSI and Manufacturing/engineering GCCS have also closed the gap in recent times and were not far behind in terms of their contribution, showcasing increasing demand across a wider spectrum of R&D and cutting-edge innovation work by GCCs.
