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Crisil Ratings has predicted a 6-7 per cent rise in net office space leasing across India's top seven cities in this fiscal year (FY27). However, it said demand may be impacted due to geopolitical uncertainties, tariff-related issues and possible disruptions caused by artificial intelligence. The seven cities are Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. 

It said the IT and ITeS sectors continue to drive demand for office space. In view of global economic uncertainties, companies are cautious about expansion plans, a scenario that adversely impacts investments. It also projected that the vacancy level in India’s Grade A commercial office space is expected to gradually decrease by about 50 basis points (bps) to 15.5-16.0 per cent by the end of the current fiscal, driven by a steady demand-supply gap resulting from a healthy net leasing growth and the scheduled completion of ongoing projects. 

It further said net leasing (measured in million square feet) reflects the net change in occupied space after accounting for both new leases and move-outs (vacated space) within the same period. FY26 net leasing is estimated at around 48-49 million square feet. It mentioned that the current global uncertainties and challenges that could emanate from AI-led disruptions do pose risks to its projection of a decline in vacancy levels.