American banking giant JP Morgan to set up Asia's largest GCC in India

US banker's move puts the country on top of the global GCC map

American banking giant JP Morgan will be the sole occupier of a space of 2 million square feet at the global capability centre (GCC) in Mumbai’s Powai, making the centre the largest of its kind in Asia when it is completed in 2029, according to people in the know. 

The GCC can house 30,000 employees. 

The American banker’s GCC push in India comes on the back of it taking up nearly 1 million square feet over the past two years, numbering it among the busiest in the banking, finance, securities and insurance (BFSI) segment in India. 

Earlier this month, it leased a 176,000 square foot facility in Hyderabad earlier this month for over ₹50 crore annually for five years. 

In 2018, JP Morgan leased about 1.6 million square feet in Bengaluru’s Embassy Tech Village, which also houses companies such as Flipkart and Wells Fargo. Around the same time, it took up 0.94 million square feet in Hyderabad’s Knowledge City and another 0.5 million in the same space with Salarpuria Sattva. Spread across the two technology hubs in south India, the bank occupies close to 3 million square feet. 

With the current built-to-suit project over 6 acres, the bank’s presence in physical space occupied by GCCs will be one of the largest in the country. Alternative asset manager Brookfield will invest $1 billion through an agreement between the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and a partner. 

JP Morgan declined to comment on queries sent by Business Standard on Monday. 

According to Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock group, India’s largest operational GCCs include Microsoft’s Hyderabad unit, which has 2.5 million square feet and 18,000 employees. 

Amazon’s Hyderabad campus covers 9.7 acres and has 15,000 employees, Goldman Sachs’ Bengaluru office has 1.2 million square feet and a capacity of 7,300 seats, the Walmart Global Tech Chennai spans 465,447 square feet and has 4,500 employees, and JPMorgan’s multicity operations together account for about 55,000 employees. 

JP Morgan’s move to scale up its GCC presence in India puts India in the lead among global hubs, both in terms of people employed and the real estate space taken on lease. 

While capability centres exist in countries such as Poland, the Philippines, and Mexico, none has the scale of talent to match India, which has seen a throng of multinationals, despite macroeconomic headwinds and tariff threats. 

American and European banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citibank, HSBC, American Express and Deutsche Bank, which have their capability centres spread in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, have been the largest space absorbers in those cities.   

According to Shrinivas Rao, chief executive officer at real estate solutions provider Vestian, GCCs have remained the dominant demand driver, accounting for 42 per cent of pan-Indian absorption of office space in the nine months ended September, with the absorption for the full year of 2025 expected to touch a record 75 million square feet. 

“Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and the National Capital Region (NCR) led the activity. Bengaluru, the NCR, and Pune contributed nearly two-thirds of new supply additions, while Bengaluru, the NCR, and Mumbai accounted for 85 per cent of the total absorption.”  

 

GCCs now account for nearly 40 per cent of all occupied Grade A stocks across the top six cities, exhibiting the fastest growth among all industry segments active in India’s office leasing landscape, according to JLL.