Office developers sniff a service opportunity in India’s GCC boom
GCCs make up a significant portion of the tenant base for most commercial office developers. So far, mainstream office developers and flexible office space operators have leased space to such offshore R&D and back-end centers for global companies. Developers are now looking to capitalize on the opportunity to provide real estate, operational support, talent acquisition, technology and compliance support as a service to them.
On Tuesday, Bengaluru-based real estate firm Sattva Group launched GCCBase along with its Chennai-based consulting and operations partner Innovalus Group. It will offer end-to-end ecosystem solutions to help multinational companies build and scale GCC across India.
Vishal Vijay, CEO of GCCBase, said, “If a company from the US is planning to establish a GCC base here, even on a small scale, we can assist, provide technical support and offer scaling flexibility in a location of their choice. There is a lot of interest from companies looking to establish new GCCs and we are currently in talks with five interested parties.” he said. Mint.
Vijay added that the company aims to serve around 20 new GCCs in the next two years.
Such developer-led GCC service platforms will offer real estate solutions even beyond their own commercial office properties.
India’s Gulf Cooperation Council ecosystem has become one of the most dynamic ecosystems in the world, employing 2.16 million professionals across more than 1,800 centres, according to a report published by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Deloitte India in July. Analysts predict that the number of Gulf Cooperation Council members will more than double to 5,000 by 2030.
Earlier this year, real estate developer Embassy Group launched Embark, an integrated platform covering strategy, operations, infrastructure and governance to support global firms to build and scale GCC in India. Embark has a strategic partnership with Deloitte India, under which organizations receive end-to-end support across the GCC lifecycle for seamless deployment and implementation.
Keerthi Kumar, partner at Deloitte India, which consults on GCCs, said, “The key reason behind this is the growth of GCCs and new GCCs coming to India. Today, even nano or micro GCCs are being set up with just 40-50 people. Companies are coming not just to scale but to build capabilities. Platforms like Embark help streamline the process of setting up operations and how quickly it can be done.” “He’s looking,” he said. for several years.
Even mid-sized developers have launched GCC services. In July, Bengaluru-based Bhartiya Urban launched a platform called Bhartiya Converge, which offers custom microservices across real estate, talent, operations and infrastructure, eliminating vendor pricing and enabling faster turnaround and cost efficiency.
GCCs in real estate
In India, one in three Fortune 500 companies has a GCC, representing the country’s dominant market share in the larger Gulf Cooperation Council segment. The next wave of growth of the Gulf Cooperation Council movement is no longer represented only by multinationals, mid-sized companies, regional powerhouses and single-country companies.
It is not surprising that the Gulf Cooperation Council has become one of the main users of office space in the country. According to real estate consultancy CBRE India, around 35-40% of the 60 million sq ft gross rental between January and September 2025 was by GCCs. This momentum is expected to continue.
Developers are looking to provide value-added services to GCCs, which is vital in office leasing, according to Ram Chandnani, managing director, leasing, CBRE India. Going forward, more developers are expected to launch similar services focused on GCCs.
“India’s talent story is going nowhere and developers want to offer services beyond just real estate,” Chandnani added. “But most developers will need suitable partners to build these platforms that are outside their core expertise.”
