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No option for global firms but to come to India: Brookfield's Alok Aggarwal
Mumbai
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Among the largest owner-operators of office space in the country, Brookfield is upbeat on the India market as it hosts nearly 1,700 global capability centres (GCCs), accounting for around 53 per cent of the total number of GCCs worldwide, according to Vestian. In an interview, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brookfield India Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) and Chairperson of Indian Reits Association Alok Aggarwal told Prachi Pisal in Mumbai, that the company may well double its Reit portfolio in India market in the next four-to-five years. Edited excerpts:
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Time of India
a day ago
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Hyd & B'luru bagged 50% of tech sector leasing in H1 of 2025 driven by GCC boom
1 2 Hyderabad: Even as the tech sector continues to dominate India's Grade A office space market, along with large-sized deals of over 1 lakh sq ft, Hyderabad, along with India's Silicon Valley—Bengaluru, retained their position as the top drivers of tech sector leasing in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025) thanks to the GCC boom. The two top IT hubs accounted for nearly half (5.3 million sq ft) of the total 10.8 million sq ft of office space absorbed by the tech sector in H1 2025, according to realty consulting firm Colliers. While Bengaluru clinched the largest chunk of 28% with 3 million sq ft, Hyderabad was second with a 21% share or 2.3 million sq ft of the total office space leasing by tech companies in H1 2025 across the top seven cities. The two were followed by Delhi-NCR, Chennai, and Pune with 1.6 million sq ft (15%), 1.5 million sq ft (14%), and 1.2 million sq ft (11%) in H1. In 2024, Bengaluru had a 34% share of the total 16.6 million sq ft tech leasing in the top markets with 5.7 million sq ft, while Hyderabad had a 25% share with 4.2 million sq ft. In 2022 too, which clocked the highest tech sector leasing since 2020. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Gold Rates Today in Hyderabad | Silver Rates Today in Hyderabad Colliers said while Bengaluru continues to be the epicentre of India's tech sector thanks to its deep talent pool, mature IT ecosystem, and robust office infrastructure, Hyderabad is beefing up its position as a major tech centre in India and globally on account of its competitive costs, supportive govt, and high-quality office space. "The tech sector continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience, even amid global uncertainties and workforce adjustments. Since 2020, tech occupiers leased close to 85 million sq ft of conventional office space across the top seven cities and accounted for the bulk of the large-sized transactions. In H1 2025 alone, the sector drove 43% of the large-sized transactions," Arpit Mehrotra, Managing Director, Office Services, Colliers India, said. "Despite current headwinds, we expect technology occupiers to maintain the leasing momentum throughout 2025 and fuel commercial real estate in India, mainly supported by the expansion of GCCs. Meanwhile, a strong IT talent pool and cost arbitrage will continue to be the differentiating factors for the Indian office market," Mehrotra added. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes ,, messages , and quotes !
Economic Times
a day ago
- Economic Times
Dow Chemical signs 2.5 lakh sq ft office lease at Navi Mumbai's Mindspace Airoli
Synopsis Dow Chemicals International has leased 2.56 lakh sq ft of office space in Navi Mumbai's Airoli, marking a significant transaction in the city's IT sector. The 10-year lease, valued at approximately Rs 250 crore, underscores the resilience of Mumbai's commercial office market. TIL Creatives Representative Image Dow Chemicals International has picked up over 2.56 lakh sq ft office space in an information technology park in Navi Mumbai's Airoli locality through a long-term lease spanning over 10 years, marking one of the largest recent transactions in the city's IT and business parks US-headquartered chemical major has taken up five floors from 2nd to 6th in one of towers of Mindspace Special Economic Zone, owned by Mindspace Business Parks. The company is estimated to pay around Rs 250 crore rentals through the entire term of the lease. The lease, starting 15 September, will see Dow Chemical will paying a monthly rental of Rs 1.64 crore, translating into Rs 64 per sq ft on the chargeable area. The agreement includes a clause to escalate rentals by 5% every year. The transaction also involves a security deposit of Rs 14.77 addition to the standard lease terms, the deal includes a fit-out security deposit of Rs 82.09 crore, which will be refunded in tranches of 10% each year, and a fit-out rent of Rs 29.45 per sq ft per month, with no escalation through the term, showed the documents accessed through realty data analytics firm transaction underscores the resilience of the commercial office market in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), particularly in large-format, high-quality spaces catering to multinational occupiers. With global corporates increasingly consolidating operations into technology hubs like Navi Mumbai, such deals point towards sustained demand despite a hybrid work environment. Industry experts tracking the segment say that high-value, long-tenure leases in established business parks indicate occupiers' confidence in India's medium- to long-term growth story and their commitment to scaling local email queries to Dow Chemicals and Mindspace Business Parks remained commercial office market recorded a landmark performance in the last financial year, with leasing activity reaching an all-time high. The surge was driven by a combination of expansion plans by global and domestic occupiers, portfolio consolidation, and the preference for high-quality, well-connected office spaces in major business momentum is widely expected to carry forward into 2026, supported by sustained demand from key sectors such as global capability centres (GCCs), banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) institutions, flexible workspace operators, and leading Indian technology companies. These segments continue to account for the largest share of fresh leasing as well as renewals, underpinned by India's cost competitiveness, skilled workforce, and strong digital infrastructure.
Mint
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- Mint
Mid-sized IT companies bet on GCC advisory firms to score quick deal wins
Mid-sized information technology (IT) services companies such as Mphasis Ltd and Hexaware Technologies Ltd are investing in advisory firms that help large corporations set up back-end tech hubs or global capability centres in India, in their bid to win substantial tech and engineering contracts later on. This strategy, analysts say, enables IT services firms to get faster access to new clients and an easier entry into the country's $68 billion global capability centre market, which is expected to swell to $105 billion by 2030. Picking up a stake in these consulting firms makes business sense for the homegrown IT outsourcers, as they can start providing tech services, and secure support and maintenance deals as soon as the big foreign companies set up their GCCs here in India, the analysts said. On 10 July, Mphasis invested $4 million in Aokah, a US-based GCC advisory firm, for a 26% stake. 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Mphasis and Hexaware ended the April-June period with $437 million and $382 million in respective revenue, up 1.6% and 2.8% from the preceding quarter. These investments come at a time when GCCs present a complex web of challenges and opportunities. At least one chief executive of an IT firm attributed higher attrition to clients hiring away talent for their own in-house tech hubs. 'Overall, if you look across the industry, there's a slight uptick in attrition and that may be to do with the GCCs being more active, the product companies coming here and setting up their own captives and large banks, large enterprises, et cetera," said Sandeep Kalra, executive director and CEO of Persistent Systems, during the company's post-earnings call on 23 July. Persistent ended the first quarter with $389.7 million in revenue, up 3.9% sequentially. Strategic investments Many IT outsourcers look at GCCs as a threat because Fortune companies are hiring engineers to handle their back-end tech work rather than giving that work to them. Mphasis's Rakesh attributed his decision of investing in a GCC advisory firm to the non-feasibility of setting up a GCC unit internally. 'That is not a business that we think will fit well if it was within Mphasis. So, we decided to take a strategic investment approach and use that opportunity to create new client engagements, not just in the GCC advisory, but then in the follow-up execution of those deals as well," said Rakesh during the post-earnings call with analysts. Hexaware's Srikrishna also highlighted the trust issues that clients faced in the build-operate-transfer model, under which the IT outsourcers set up the tech centres, before handing over the team after a few years. This final stage of transfer often caused tensions with the clients. 'We did ref calls with customers. What I'm seeing came out consistent. They said, 'Listen, we've tried BOT (build-operate-transfer) models with traditional outsourcing companies,' and they named some of our large competitors. They said, 'With them, we never felt like it's a model that works for us. We always felt like there is a tension that is going to be there at the point of transferring. That it won't be easy, one. Two, even before the transfer in the 3-year or 4-year operate phase, we felt like the team is not ours. We felt like the team is the outsourcing company's team," said Srikrishna during the company's analyst call. Also Read: Too small or too soon? Sonata, Happiest Minds segregate AI biz revenue IT outsourcers traditionally set up and run captive tech centres for their clients initially and then transfer the ownership after some time, which is known as the BOT model. Changing GCC demand Small GCC advisory firms can expand fast and deliver quick results, prompting IT outsourcers to invest in them, analysts said. 'Mid-cap IT firms aren't avoiding GCCs, they're cutting to the front of the line. By investing in specialist advisory shops, they buy instant expertise, warm client access, and a faster route to lucrative downstream IT and engineering deals, without the years it takes to build that capability from scratch," said Phil Fersht, chief executive of HFS Research. These investments also reflect the changing demand patterns in the GCC landscape. 'The moves by mid-tiers like Hexaware and Mphasis reflect a changing demand pattern for IT Services. Just like AI, GCCs are a topic that cannot be avoided when discussing the future of the market," said Thomas Reuner, principal analyst at Pierre Audoin Consultants. 'Where the wheat gets separated from the chaff is where GCCs are set up to help drive transformation by either pivoting to product engineering, especially within the manufacturing sector, or accelerating the transformation journey through data management and AI capabilities," said Reuner. According to a Mint report on 19 April, smaller GCC advisory firms like Gloplax Solutions, Stratinfinity, and Bridgepath Innovations were sprouting up across the country. These smaller firms help global companies set up GCCs and manage hiring, regulatory compliances, infrastructure and day-to-day operations for the parent company. Still, the trend of acquiring a GCC advisory firm is not new. GCC growth Last July, Accenture Plc, which is the world's largest IT services company, acquired an undisclosed minority stake in ANSR, the country's biggest GCC consulting firm, for $170 million. These investments also come at a time when larger peers including Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, and LTIMindtree Ltd have been setting up independent GCC units internally since the past two years. Also Read: Infosys acquires majority stake in Australian IT firm for $150 million Currently, India has more than 1,760 GCCs, of which 875 are based in Bengaluru alone, while Hyderabad has about 355. The rest are located in cities such as Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Chennai. Nasscom estimates that the number of GCCs in India will surge to 2,200 by March 2030, with a market size of $105 billion. This presents an opportunity to the boutique advisory firms sprouting up to open and run these GCCs.
