Barclays to BlackRock, big finance queues up for Worli

As India's financial sector expands, demand surges for centrally located, premium towers

- Madhurima Nandy & Ranjani Raghavan

Pandurang Budhkar Marg may not roll off the tongue like 'BKC', but that hasn't deterred India's top financial firms from making a beeline to this stretch of Worli in south-central Mumbai — once a premier business address, now staging a surprise comeback.

At the centre of this revival is Altimus, a 41-storey tower co-owned by K Raheja Corp and Singapore's GIC. Over the past two years, it has quietly pulled marquee tenants away from Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Lower Parel, bringing the corporate spotlight back to Worli.

Its tenant list reads like a who's who of global finance: Morgan Stanley, KKR, BlackRock, Barclays, Kedaara Capital and TPG have all leased space at Altimus. Others, like Goldman Sachs, have opted for nearby Raheja projects such as Ascent. Large Indian firms—including Ultratech—are also moving in.

In the early 2000s, Worli's Ceejay House was India's most prestigious office address—home to Barclays, Rothschild, and Credit Suisse. But as BKC and Lower Parel powered ahead, Worli slipped out of the spotlight. That tide, it seems, is now turning—with global investors and large Indian firms returning to centrally located towers that offer top-tier infrastructure and access.