Cushman-Nuvama JV to deploy ₹3,000 cr in 'offices of the future'

Jain explained that the GCCs' increased leasing in India has to do with the quality of talent, skill availability, and the possible cost arbitrage in India

US-based commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, in a joint venture with wealth management firm Nuvama, will focus on Grade-A+ office spaces across key Indian cities for the deployment of its first office fund of ₹3,000 crore. 

 

The fund will focus on Grade-A+ “offices of the future” across key micro-markets in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. It aims to offer opportunities to investors in the Indian commercial real estate sector, a market historically dominated by global players.

 

Anshul Jain, chief executive-India, Southeast Asia, and APAC tenant representation, Cushman & Wakefield said: “We did the first close at almost ₹1,700 crore in January. It was a very successful fundraiser, but we’re just about to start deploying that money. We will target new developments and completely leased assets.”

 

The firm is banking on the growing office space demand in India, which, in 2024, stood at a record high of 89 million square feet (msf), up 19 per cent year-on-year. The surge was led by global capability centres (GCCs), which accounted for about 27-29 per cent of the overall demand. 

 

 

Jain explained GCCs’ increased leasing in India had to do with the quality of talent, skill availability, and the possible cost arbitrage in India.

 

Moreover, Jain said the office space demand in the country was moving more towards institutionalised developers since they are more likely to deliver promptly.  “The counterparty risk is lower. For institutional developers, pre-commitments for their launched commercial projects are higher, and they are doing better. But a smaller developer who is developing their first or third building may not get pre-commitments. They have to wait for the project’s completion,” Jain added.  He expects India’s Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) to do well since “corporations always like institutional-quality landlords a lot more than smaller developers or owners.” According to Jain, India has accounted for about 60-65 per cent of Asia’s total office demand in the last two years. 

 

“Office demand in India has gone up post-Covid, particularly, but it has receded in China because of a drop in multinational demand in the last three to four years.”

 

Jain believes that India continues to significantly outperform its peers in Asia. It has been the largest absorber of office spaces annually in the past three to four years. He said, “the US and Europe were in negative territory, while Asia was in positive territory, driven by India.” 

 

Considering India absorbed about 20.3 msf of office space in the first three months of 2025, Cushman & Wakefield has forecasted about 80 msf of gross leasing activity this year.

 

However, the forecast is “notwithstanding any significant global event or border issue that India is right now facing becoming too large; it’s subject to all the external interfaces, provided that there’s not much of an effect from those,” Jain said.