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Realty firms roll out integrated platforms to tap India's GCC boom

According to Shrinivas Rao, FRICS, chief executive officer (CEO), Vestian, more than 1,850 GCCs are currently operating in India

Multinational companies increasingly view India not just as a cost-efficient back office, but also as a strategic hub for innovation, engineering, and digital transformation
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Multinational companies increasingly view India not just as a cost-efficient back office, but also as a strategic hub for innovation, engineering, and digital transformation

Prachi Pisal Mumbai

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India’s fast-expanding global capability centre (GCC) ecosy­s­tem is reshaping the role of real-estate developers and pro­p­erty consultants, pushing th­em into offering end-to-end, platform-led solutions in addition to conventional office leasing. 
This structural shift is prompting developers such as Embassy Group, Sattva Group, and Bhartiya Urban, alongside global property consultants like Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE, to launch integrated GCC platforms and dedicated teams, segments that bundle strategy, execution and operations under one umbrella. 
“The GCC landscape is maturing rapidly, with enterprises moving from single-location, cost-led set-ups to multi-city strategies driven by talent depth, operating resilience and long-term scalability,” said VS Sridhar, executive managing director and head of GCC advisory at Cushman & Wakefield. He noted that today’s boards want answers on talent readiness, total cost of ownership, regulatory sequencing and execution certainty — well before signing a lease. 
According to Shrinivas Rao, FRICS, chief executive officer (CEO), Vestian, more than 1,850 GCCs are currently operating in India, collectively leasing nearly 35 million square feet (msf) of office space in 2025 — accounting for about 45 per cent of total office absorption, up from 41 per cent a year earlier. GCCs are also raising the bar on workspace quality, increasingly favouring grade A, ESG-aligned, future-ready offices with flexibility and scalability built in. 
These platforms aim to add­ress gaps that traditional leasing models — largely focused on space availability and rental ec­onomics — were never designed to fill. According to Anshuman Magazine, chairperson and CEO for India and the Middle East at CBRE, integrated platforms can compress GCC set-up timelines from 12–18 months to as few as 90 days, while improving decision confidence. 
As multinational companies increasingly view India not just as a cost-efficient back office, but also as a strategic hub for innovation, engineering, and digital transformation, developers and consultants are racing to position themselves as long-term GCC partners. 
Integrated platforms at­t­e­m­pt to deliver that clarity at speed. Cushman & Wakefield’s GCC advisory, for instance, combines talent intelligence, cost modelling and market benchmarking across more than 28 global markets, enabling leadership teams to move from feasibility to board-level decisions in days rather than weeks.  
Embassy Group’s ‘Embark’ positions itself as a one-stop execution partner covering strategy, India entry, compliance, infrastructure, hiring and long-term optimisation. 
“With Embark, our goal is simple — to transform the GCC set-up experience in India, by providing companies with a seamless, strategic and execution-focused platform that removes complexity and accelerates success,” Jitu Virwani, chairperson and managing director, Embassy Group, had said at the time of the launch of the platform in March 2025. 
Sattva Group, in partnership with Innovalus, has launched ‘GCCBase’ called ‘Space-to-Scale’ platform, allo­wing multinational firms to start with micro-GCC pods of 20-75 employees that can go live within 90 days, and then scale seamlessly into full-fledged captive centres. Both Embassy and Sattva are based in Bengaluru – a leader in GCC leasing with a 26 per cent share in 2025. 
Expanding horizon
  • GCCs leased nearly 35 msf of office space in 2025, accounting for 45% of total office absorption, up from 41% last year
  • Integrated GCC platforms can cut setup timelines from 12-18 months to as few as 90 days
  • Developers like Embassy, Sattva, Bhartiya Urban have rolled out integrated platforms to help GCCs set up their operations in India
  • Real-estate consultancies like Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, and Vestian have dedicated platforms, teams/ segments for GCCs, offering end-to-end services