India’s flexible workspace market shifts to corporate-led growth, with large enterprises occupying 72% of seats
- IBEF
- April 6, 2026
The Indian flexible workspace market has clearly moved away from its startup-centric roots to a corporate-centric growth trajectory, where large corporations have been the biggest contributors to the total flex seat absorption in the eight major cities, accounting for 72% of the total flex seat absorption, according to the latest Knight Frank India report. This figure is much higher than the share accounted for by SMEs, which was 18%, and startups, which was 10%. This clearly reflects the maturity and acceptance of the concept of flexible workspaces as a mainstream corporate real estate strategy. The Indian flexible workspace market has grown significantly over the years, with the transaction volume rising to 18.6 million sq. ft. in 2025 from 2.2 million sq. ft. in 2017, i.e., an increase of 8.4 times in just eight years. Flex transactions as a percentage of total office transactions have also increased to 21% in 2025 from 5% in 2017. This clearly reflects the fact that the concept of flexible workspaces has started to emerge as a structural layer in the Indian office market.
A significant factor contributing to the change has been the rapid growth in the number of Global Capability Centres (GCCs), which contribute to a total national demand for flex seat space amounting to 52%. Third-party IT companies and India-facing businesses contribute 26% and 22%, respectively. Within the Enterprise segment, the share of Global MNCs in the total occupied seats is a high 81%. This further emphasizes India’s position as a global service and innovation destination. Information Technology has the highest share in the total demand for flex seat space, contributing 43%. BFSI and other service sectors contribute 25% and 24%, respectively. The increased adoption of flexible workspace by the Enterprise segment will have a positive impact on speed to market, optimum capital-efficient office expansion strategies, and the India office leasing market.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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