Flex Office Is India’s Fastest-Growing Office Occupier Segment in H1 2026, Savills Reports

India’s flexible workspace sector accounted for 18% of office leasing across the country’s top six cities in the first half of 2026. Flex office ranking as the fastest-growing core occupier segment of the market, according to a new report by British commercial real estate services firm Savills. Leasing by flex operators rose 16% year-on-year, the strongest growth rate of any occupier segment, lifting the sector’s share from 16% a year earlier.

The pattern was visible across most major markets, though the balance differed by city. In Bengaluru, the country’s largest office market, flexible workspaces made up 23% of absorption. Delhi-NCR saw the sharpest shift: flex operators became the single largest occupier group there, as their leasing jumped from roughly 56,000 to about 150,000 sqm and their share climbed from 10% to 26% of the city’s take-up.

In Pune, flex was the second-largest source of demand after technology occupiers, at 16%. In Mumbai, expansion by flex operators drove a near-tripling of real estate–sector leasing year-on-year. Chennai and Hyderabad recorded softer flex activity over the period, though both retained flex among their leading segments.

For comparison, the wider office market provides the backdrop against which flex has gained share. Total gross absorption across the six cities reached about 3.9 million sqm in the first half of 2026, up 7% year-on-year. IT-BPM — the information technology and business process management sector, covering software services and outsourcing — led all occupiers at 35%, with flexible workspaces second at 18% and BFSI — banking, financial services and insurance — third at 15%.

Managed office operators anchored several of the larger transactions of the half. The largest recent example came in March 2026, when T-Mobile’s Indian arm concluded a major managed office deal with WeWork India in Hyderabad. That agreement, worth around €53 million, covers more than 23,200 sqm at the Phoenix H10 campus, with around 300 professionals due to start there.

Much of this demand is underpinned by international enterprises establishing or expanding their India operations. Bengaluru-based operator IndiQube reports that 40% of its clients are now medium or large international companies, challenging the perception that coworking mainly serves freelancers and startups. Founded in 2015, IndiQube operates more than 40 locations across 15 cities.

The report attributes much of the country’s leasing momentum to Global Capability Centres — the offshore engineering, technology and back-office hubs that multinationals run in India — whose take-up has doubled since early 2022, rising from roughly 0.9 to 1.9 million sqm. Business World framed the trend in strategic terms, noting that for global firms, coworking is “less about saving costs and more about de-risking entry” into an unfamiliar market.

The report was produced by Savills India, a group company of Savills PLC that began operating in the country in 2016 and now employs more than 900 professionals across eight Indian cities. Its London-listed parent runs more than 700 offices and employs over 42,000 people across more than 70 countries. The H1 2026 study covers six markets — Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune — which together anchor India’s office demand.

Pic Source: stock photo (Mumbai Skyline office towers)