India's Global Capability Centre story has been told largely through the lens of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. A new chapter is being written in cities that rarely featured in that conversation until recently. A Deloitte India report on Japanese enterprises in India's GCC ecosystem finds that over 100 Japanese firms are already operating GCCs in the country, making Japan the largest contributor to India's GCC ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region — and the next wave of expansion is heading squarely toward tier-2 cities including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi and Indore.
Why Japanese GCCs are expanding into tier-2 cities
The shift beyond established hubs is being driven by three converging factors: cost competitiveness, specialised talent pools and supportive state policies. As office rents and talent costs in Bengaluru and Hyderabad have risen with demand, tier-2 cities have become increasingly attractive for companies seeking to establish or expand India operations without the cost base of the gateway markets. Japanese GCCs are particularly well-suited to this expansion pattern because their operational model tends to prioritise depth of engineering talent over proximity to financial or commercial centres. Cities like Ahmedabad and Kochi have invested in STEM education infrastructure and technology parks over the past decade, and that investment is now attracting GCC operators looking beyond the obvious choices.
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100+ Japanese GCCs
Japan is the largest Asia-Pacific contributor to India's GCC ecosystem, with over 100 Global Capability Centres already operating across the country.
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Tier-2 Cities Gain Momentum
Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Coimbatore and Indore are emerging as preferred GCC destinations due to lower costs, skilled talent and supportive policies.
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Office Space Demand
Expanding GCCs are creating strong demand for Grade A office spaces, encouraging developers to accelerate commercial real estate projects in emerging cities.
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$470–600 Billion Impact
India's GCC ecosystem is projected to contribute $470–600 billion to the economy by FY2030 while creating millions of jobs.
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Innovation-Led Workspaces
Japanese GCCs are evolving beyond back-office operations, driving demand for advanced engineering, R&D and collaborative office environments.
GCCs as office real estate demand engines
The commercial real estate implications of this expansion are direct and substantial. Each GCC of meaningful scale represents a committed, long-duration office lease, the kind of tenant that stabilises buildings and anchors micro-markets. Recent transactions in Gurugram and Noida illustrate the scale involved: Airbnb leased 46,437 sq ft for a GCC at DLF Cybercity in Gurugram, and MetLife leased 75,000 sq ft in Noida for five years. As Japanese and other international GCCs move into tier-2 cities, they bring with them the same demand for quality, Grade A office space that transformed commercial real estate in India's top metros. Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Kochi, which have historically had limited institutional-grade office supply, are now facing a demand signal that will require developers and investors to accelerate supply into these markets.
The scale of the economic opportunity
Deloitte's projections frame the broader GCC story in terms that make the real estate angle look modest by comparison. India's GCC ecosystem is projected to generate a net economic impact of $470 to $600 billion by FY2030, contribute 2.2 to 2.8% to GDP and create 20 to 25 million jobs. That scale of economic activity requires a commensurate expansion of commercial real estate, residential supply for the workforce, retail and hospitality infrastructure, and urban services. The Japan-specific momentum is reinforced by the JPY10 trillion ($68 billion) investment commitment between the two countries, as well as digital partnership initiatives and industrial collaboration frameworks that provide the GCC expansion with a bilateral policy tailwind.
From back-office to innovation hub: the real estate implication
The nature of what GCCs do is also changing in ways that affect the real estate they occupy. The Deloitte report highlights a shift from back-office support functions toward end-to-end product development, innovation and enterprise resilience, activities that require different, higher-quality workspace configurations than the processing-focused operations GCCs originally represented. Japanese GCCs are concentrated in technology at 20%, industrials at 15% and automotive and healthcare at 11% each, sectors that require specialised lab, engineering and collaborative workspace rather than generic open-plan offices. As this demand matures in tier-2 cities, it will shape the kind of commercial real estate that developers need to build, and the cities that get the product right first stand to capture a disproportionate share of the incoming demand.
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