Bengaluru: the location brief

What this guide is for

Use this brief to orient a location decision for a Global Capability Centre in Bengaluru. It sets out what the state says about the market, what the policy actually contains, and what published data says about talent, offices, transport and the labour-law texture. It does not rank Bengaluru against other cities, recommend a developer, broker or provider, or replace legal advice. Every figure carries a source; where that source is a news report, the claim is what the outlet reported.

What the city is known for in this market

The Karnataka Department of Electronics, IT and BT states on its GCC policy page that the state hosts over 500 GCCs, accounts for 30 percent of the country's GCCs and 35 percent of India's GCC workforce, and that 6 lakh or more professionals work in GCCs in Karnataka out of 19 lakh in India. These are the state government's own figures and are not independently audited here.

State policy posture

Policy. The Karnataka Global Capability Centre Policy 2024-2029 is a published government document. The department's page lists the policy and its operational guidelines as PDFs. The policy is at Karnataka GCC Policy 2024-29 and the summary page is at eitbt.karnataka.gov.in. The page describes four pillars: regulatory easing, incentives and infrastructure, a local ecosystem with 21 centres of excellence, and talent development.

India Briefing reported that the policy was launched on 19 November 2024 and targets 500 new GCCs, 350,000 jobs and US$50 billion of economic output by 2029. The same report lists a 50 percent reimbursement on internship stipends for up to 100,000 students, a five-year electricity duty exemption for Beyond Bengaluru locations, an INR 1 billion AI skilling and innovation fund, and Beyond Bengaluru clusters at Mysuru, Mangaluru, Tumakuru and the Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi region. Read the operational guidelines before treating any incentive as available.

Talent base

The state's own figure of 6 lakh or more GCC professionals is above. On supply, the All India Survey on Higher Education 2021-22, as reported by The South First, counts 4,430 colleges in Karnataka, the third highest of any state, at 66 colleges per lakh population. That counts all colleges, not engineering alone; no government figure for annual engineering graduates was fetchable. See notes.

Commercial real estate

Bengaluru's office market is usually described by submarket: the Central Business District, the Outer Ring Road (ORR), Whitefield in the peripheral east, Electronic City in the south, and North Bengaluru around Hebbal on the airport road.

Knight Frank India's H1 2026 report, as reported on 9 July 2026, put Bengaluru's first-half transactions at 14.1 million sq ft, down 23 percent year on year, with GCC-led leasing of 8.5 million sq ft or 60 percent of the total. The same report gave an average transacted rent of INR 102 per sq ft per month, up 8 percent, and business district ranges of INR 160 to 250 for CBD and off-CBD, INR 105 to 135 for ORR and INR 70 to 95 for the peripheral east, which includes Whitefield. Cushman & Wakefield's Bengaluru MarketBeat for Q2 2026 reports gross leasing of 5.6 million sq ft in the quarter, GCCs at 52 percent of leasing, and ORR and the peripheral east as the most active corridors. JLL's Q2 2026 market dynamics note reports new supply of 5.8 million sq ft, up 73 percent year on year, with rents up 0.7 percent quarter on quarter.

Infrastructure and mobility

The Yellow Line of Namma Metro, from RV Road to Bommasandra via Electronic City, opened on 10 August 2025, as reported by The Federal. That report gives the line as over 19 km with 16 stations at about INR 7,160 crore and puts the operational network at over 96 km. The same report describes Phase 3 as two corridors of over 44 km with 31 stations at INR 15,611 crore, for which the foundation stone was laid the same day. BMRCL's site lists Phases 1, 2, 2A and 2B. The airport corridor sits in Phase 2B and was not open at the time of writing.

Kempegowda International Airport is operated by Bangalore International Airport Limited. Hans India reported BIAL's FY26 figures as 44.47 million passengers, up 6.2 percent, with 7.23 million international passengers, 532,000 metric tonnes of cargo, and 78 domestic and 34 international destinations.

Operating texture

Three instruments matter for a centre that runs shifts.

• Policy. Notification LD 328 LET 2023 of 10 June 2024 exempts IT, ITeS, BPO, KPO and related knowledge industries from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 for five years, on conditions that include an internal committee under the POSH Act, a grievance redressal committee and reporting of disciplinary action to the labour department, as summarised by S.S. Rana & Co.
• Policy. The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act 2020 allows women to work at night with written consent, free transport with security and rotation. IT and ITES establishments had an earlier exemption under Section 25, as summarised by L&E Global. A notification of 27 September 2024 permits establishments with ten or more employees to operate 24x7 for three years, on conditions including a weekly day off, an 8-hour day and 48-hour week, and written consent for women between 8 pm and 6 am, as summarised by Fox Mandal.
• Policy, recent. Deccan Chronicle reported on 12 September 2026 that the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act 2026 received assent and omitted clauses 25(1)(h) to (o), which had required driver verification, route monitoring, control rooms, random vehicle checks and security guards for women on night shifts. Other Section 25 provisions continue. Confirm the current text with counsel before setting transport policy.

Policy, announced, or neither

• Policy: the GCC Policy 2024-2029 and its operational guidelines; the 2024 Standing Orders exemption; the 2020 and 2026 amendments to the Shops Act; the 2024 24x7 notification.
• Announced: Phase 3 of the metro, where the foundation stone is laid but nothing is built; the 500-GCC and 350,000-job targets, which are goals, not outcomes.
• Neither: how fast any submarket will grow, or what any incentive will pay a given company.

Check before you rely on this

1. The 2026 Shops Act amendment, and whether further rules on women's night transport have been notified since.
2. The opening dates of metro Phase 2A along the ORR and Phase 2B to the airport.
3. The latest quarterly rent ranges. The figures above are H1 and Q2 2026.