Indian state governments are rapidly implementing new frameworks to attract global capability centres, aiming to generate over 1.1 million jobs and establish more than 1,300 new centres by 2031, signalling a shift in the nation’s services economy.
India’s state governments are moving aggressively to court global capability centres, with a new CBRE South Asia report saying the initiatives could help create more than 1.1 million jobs and attract over 1,300 new centres by 2031. The study, “The Policy Advantage: Powering India’s GCC Growth”, says the push reflects a broader shift in which these back-office and research operations are becoming a central part of India’s services economy rather than a niche addition.
According to the report, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have all introduced dedicated frameworks to lure investment and speed expansion. Tamil Nadu has added employee-focused incentives, while Telangana and Delhi have built wider regulatory systems to support local ecosystems. Kerala is among the states preparing draft proposals, showing how quickly the policy race is widening beyond the traditional technology hubs.
The report said GCCs leased more than 123 million square feet of office space across India’s nine largest cities between 2022 and the first half of 2026. Their share of total commercial office leasing rose from about 29% in 2022 to nearly 43% in the first half of this year, underlining how deeply the sector now shapes demand in the property market. Technology firms accounted for 23% of that leasing, followed by banking and financial services at 22% and engineering and manufacturing at 16%.
Bengaluru remained the biggest market, with more than 51 million square feet of cumulative GCC leasing over the period, or about 42% of the national total, while Hyderabad followed with more than 24 million square feet. Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Pune each recorded more than 13 million square feet, and Mumbai took a smaller share but stood out as the main destination for banking and financial services tenants. CBRE said state targets now add up to more than 1,380 new GCCs and roughly 1.18 million jobs between 2029 and 2031, with Karnataka and Maharashtra among the most ambitious bidders.
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