India’s office market recorded its highest-ever leasing volume for the first nine months of a year, even as a surge in new construction pushed vacancy higher. Companies leased 61.06 million square feet from January through September 2026, while average vacancy across the country’s seven largest office markets reached 14.8%, according to JLL and reported by Big News Network.
The leasing total puts the market on track to match its full-year 2025 performance. JLL said annual leasing could approach 100 million square feet within the next two to three years if demand continues.
GCCs Account for 43% of Office Demand
Global capability centers (GCCs), which handle functions such as technology, finance and business operations for multinational companies, leased 26.2 million square feet during the first nine months of 2026. That was 30.6% more than a year earlier and equivalent to 84% of their total leasing for all of 2025.
GCCs accounted for 42.9% of overall office demand, while foreign occupiers represented 62% of leasing, their highest share in seven quarters.
Flexible workspace operators also recorded a milestone, leasing 13.83 million square feet across the seven major cities. They accounted for 52% of office space leased by domestic companies during the period.
Bengaluru Leads as Financial Firms Set a Record
Gross leasing rebounded to 23.17 million square feet in the third quarter as deals delayed in the previous quarter were completed.
Bengaluru led third-quarter activity with 33.4% of leasing, followed by Hyderabad at 19.6%, Delhi-NCR at 18.1% and Mumbai at 12.4%. Bengaluru also led the nine-month period, accounting for 28% of total leasing.
Technology companies represented 25.6% of third-quarter leasing, closely followed by banking, financial services and insurance firms at 25.3%. The financial sector recorded its highest-ever quarterly leasing volume. Manufacturing and industrial companies accounted for 16.1%, while flexible workspace operators contributed 15.5%.
Net absorption, which measures the increase in occupied office space, reached a record 42 million square feet in the first nine months, up 5.3% year over year.
New Construction Adds to Available Office Space
Despite strong leasing, average vacancy across the seven major markets rose by 30 basis points from the previous quarter to 14.8%.
The increase came as developers completed 43.7 million square feet of office space in the third quarter, the highest quarterly level of new supply in the post-pandemic period.
The figures show that record demand is coinciding with a substantial wave of new office construction. The market’s next test will be how quickly companies absorb that space as additional buildings enter the market.
