Strong GCC demand lifts India office REITs in FY25

The recovery also benefited from higher rental values as firms mandated return to office

- Madhurima Nandy

Driven by strong demand from global capability centers (GCCs) and improved occupancy, India's top office REITs—Embassy, Mindspace Business Parks, and Brookfield India—have posted higher FY25 net operating income and leasing, signaling a robust rebound from pandemic-induced downturn.

The recovery also benefited from increased rental values as businesses enforced return-to-office policies, catalyzing demand and higher occupancy. REITs, or real estate investment trusts, have had their share of challenges in recent years, many of them pandemic-induced. But with the office market turning around, they are gaining more acceptance.

Embassy REIT, India's first publicly listed REIT that owns and operates a 51.1 million sq. ft portfolio of 14 office parks, clocked 6.6 million sq. ft of leasing in FY25, 60% of which was accounted for by GCCs across sectors. GCCs are offshore centers owned by multinational companies to run back-end work like IT infrastructure, human resources, supply chain, and sales management.