Boom and boon: GCC leases are surging and evolving in India, keeping top law firms busy
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India Inc’s global capability centre (GCC) boom is keeping the country’s law firms busier than ever as more multinational companies set up larger office campuses on longer lease tenures across major cities.
As foreign companies commit to 15-30 year tenures and build million-square-foot facilities in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, the National Capital Region (NCR) and Chennai, leading law firms such as Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, JSA Advocates & Solicitors and Nishith Desai Associates are increasingly being drawn into these transactions. What were once routine commercial leases are now turning into M&A-style mandates involving detailed land and regulatory due diligence, construction and zoning approvals and long-term risk allocation.
There is a clear rise in the number, size and tenure of GCC-led built-to-suit and large office leasing transactions in India, according to Cyril Shroff, managing partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. “GCCs are no longer back-office operations but long-term strategic hubs for technology and global operations," Shroff said.
“As a result, real estate commitments are larger, lease tenures are longer, and campus developments are more customised and future-ready. This has fundamentally changed the nature of legal work in this space." The firm advised GCC clients on leasing more than 5 million square feet in the past year alone.
Its recent mandates include advising JPMorgan on what is being described as Asia’s largest GCC lease, a 1.3-million-sq-ft built-to-suit campus in Mumbai’s Powai. Firms such as Nishith Desai Associates now advise GCC clients through the entire lifecycle of a transaction, from structuring the India entity from a legal, tax and
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