A positive shift in India’s business environment is strengthening the market for flexible workspaces, according to Karan Virwani, CEO India, WeWork. He said that rising entrepreneurship, renewed startup activity and the rapid expansion of global capability centres are driving strong demand across major cities.
“We are seeing India become a GCC hub,” Virwani said at a global leadership summit hosted by a common platform. He added that both global companies and domestic firms are increasing hiring and that startup funding has begun to recover with more venture capital coming in. “Overall, I think we are in a very good place, with high energy,” he said.
WeWork India currently hosts more than 130 active GCC centres of different scales. About half of these centres have fewer than 50 desks, showing that many firms prefer entering the country with a small footprint and expanding as needed. Virwani said the flexible model allows companies to grow without upfront costs. “You can enter India in a very light way without having to put any upfront cost,” he noted.
To meet demand from global firms, the company has partnered with multiple GCC as a service providers that help organisations from regions such as Europe, Japan and the United States set up operations quickly. WeWork India is also building customised offices for large clients and plans to standardise these offerings.
Virwani said India’s overall office market is performing strongly, with the flex segment becoming an important growth engine. “In the last 12 months, flex has been the second highest contributor after IT,” he said. The company has grown slightly faster than the industry, adding around 20000 desks and nearly 2 million square feet in the past year.
Bengaluru continues to lead commercial leasing activity with a 30 to 40 percent share. Mumbai, NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are also expanding rapidly. He said many companies from Bengaluru are choosing Hyderabad due to lower real estate costs, while Chennai is seeing increased demand from new manufacturing and automotive investments.
Virwani added that 98 percent of workspace demand still comes from major metro regions. “Our focus is to stay within these top tier cities for the short to mid term,” he said, adding that expansion to other cities will come as they develop into larger business hubs.
The company’s current market capitalisation stands at around 8262.53 crore rupees.
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