India's flex office segment is expected to grow from the current $3-4 billion to $9-10 billion by 2028, driven by the rapid expansion of Global Capability Centres (GCCs), as per the reports by Smartworks Coworking Spaces and UnearthIQ.

By 2030, the GCCs are expected to grow the demand for office space of 160-200 million sq ft, out of which 65-80 million sq ft or almost half of incremental demand for flex and managed workspaces.

GCCs, which are also called global in-house centres or captives, are large multinationals' offshore units looking over technology, operations, analytics and other strategic functions.

The occupier preferences have shifted over from traditional long-term leases to asset-light, opex-led real estate models, as per the study. The companies are now aiming to strengthen their presence across Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities as well as by mid-tier IT companies who prefer scalable and plug-and-play workspaces.

India, which has over 1,850 GCCs currently employing around 2.2 million professionals, the centres are estimated to add 80,000-120,000 seats annually, creating an employment opportunity worth $170-254 million each year.

According to the reports, India's commercial real estate market size by economic activity, which is the fourth-largest globally, is estimated to go up to $120-130 billion by 2030, that is currently valued at $50-60 billion. This is because of the growing demand for Grade A office spaces, institutional capital inflows, e-commerce warehousing policy catalysts like the Registration Bill 2025.

Harsh Binani, the co-founder of Smartworks, said that GCCs are now preferring scalable, intelligent and experience-first environments rather than just offices. The company aims to enable GCC growth in important and emerging markets through its managed office platform. The office segment forms a significant share of the market and is evolving due to growth in GCC and IT/ITeS sectors, changing work patterns, and rising interest from Tier-2 cities.

The flex office spaces are coming up as the fastest-growing segment replacing the traditional offices, according to the report. Gaurav Vasu, the co-founder and CEO of UnearthIQ, said that the turning point for GCCs is the preference for experience-first workplaces rather than traditional infrastructure models. With India's commercial real estate market estimated to go up to $120-130 billion by 2030, there is a rapid shift toward scalable workspaces with strong expansion in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.