India hiring hubs are expanding beyond Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad as companies adopt a “plus-one” office strategy that adds smaller-city locations alongside established metropolitan operations. The shift is being driven by a combination of lower real-estate costs, improving infrastructure, access to skilled workers and growing demand for corporate jobs closer to employees’ hometowns.
The change is visible in the office market. Office leasing across major cities rose 7 per cent year-on-year to 41.6 million sq ft in the first half of 2026, while vacancy declined to 13.2 per cent, according to the report. At the same time, Tier-2 cities account for 32 per cent of planned hiring nationally. Together, these figures suggest that the next phase of India’s commercial expansion may not be defined only by the continued growth of its largest metros, but also by the ability of smaller cities to absorb formal employment and business activity.
This does not mean that Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR or Hyderabad are losing their central role. These cities remain the established bases of technology companies, banks, consulting firms, startups and global businesses. The emerging model is more distributed: companies retain their main operations in major metros while creating additional offices in cities where costs may be lower and local talent is available.
That model changes the relationship between employment and urban development. For decades, white-collar opportunity in India has been concentrated in a limited number of cities. Workers from smaller towns and regional centres often had to relocate to access corporate jobs. If companies expand their presence in emerging employment markets, the geography of opportunity could become wider, although the material supplied does not establish how many jobs will ultimately be created or whether they will match metropolitan salaries and career paths.
## The cities competing for the next wave of offices
Pune is presented as the strongest example of an emerging hub that has moved beyond the role of a cheaper alternative to Mumbai. It has developed its own business and employment base, with office leasing rising 56 per cent in the first half of 2026. Banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing and mobility are identified as important sources of demand. Its existing skilled workforce and proximity to Mumbai give companies both access to talent and a connection to an established commercial ecosystem.
Jaipur is being positioned as a destination for information technology and business-support operations. Its appeal lies in an educated workforce and lower operating costs than traditional metros. IT services, back-office operations and customer support could expand the city’s employment base while allowing some professionals to find corporate work without moving to Delhi or Bengaluru.
Ahmedabad represents a different path. Rather than building an office market from scratch, it already has a substantial business ecosystem linked to pharmaceuticals, chemicals, advanced materials and other industries. The city also has the largest flexible-office footprint among Tier-2 cities, according to the report. This matters because companies are more likely to expand where industrial relationships, suppliers, professional services and talent already exist.
Indore and Coimbatore are similarly described as cities with growing economic foundations. Indore is benefiting from improving infrastructure and connectivity, as well as access to professionals at lower real-estate costs than larger corporate hubs. Coimbatore’s long-established industrial base creates a platform for manufacturing, technology and business services. The distinction is important: the report’s list is not based on one uniform model of growth. Some cities are attracting services, while others are building on manufacturing or regional business networks.
Lucknow, Kochi, Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar are identified as other potential beneficiaries. Lucknow’s large population, expanding services economy and improving connectivity could support technology, customer-support and other corporate functions. Kochi already has an important technology and services base in Kerala, giving companies an alternative to Bengaluru and Hyderabad and allowing more professionals to build careers within the state.
Chandigarh and its surrounding region could draw on access to a large northern Indian talent pool, while Bhubaneswar is developing as an information technology and services destination with relatively lower operating costs. The report also names Surat, Nagpur and Patna as cities that could see greater office demand as local economies expand and businesses formalise their operations. Strictly speaking, this makes the list broader than ten individual cities, but the underlying argument remains consistent: employment growth is spreading across different types of regional economies rather than following a single Tier-2 template.
## Why the plus-one model is gaining ground
The most immediate factor is cost. Operating offices in large metros can involve high real-estate and other expenses. Smaller cities may offer companies a lower-cost entry point, particularly when the objective is to add capacity rather than move an entire headquarters. However, the report makes clear that cost alone does not explain the shift.
Talent is equally important. Companies need access to skilled workers, while many professionals are increasingly willing to build careers closer to their hometowns rather than relocate to a major metro. This creates a potential alignment between corporate expansion and local labour markets. The result could be a wider network of employment centres, but the strength of that network will depend on whether cities can provide the infrastructure and business conditions needed to retain workers and support firms over time.
Flexible workspaces are another part of the mechanism. They allow companies to enter an emerging market without immediately committing to a large, long-term office lease. This lowers the initial risk of testing a new location and makes it easier to create satellite teams. The report attributes the growing relevance of this approach to Suvrat Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Onward Workspaces, who described the movement as a wider network of employment markets beyond traditional corporate hubs.
For the real-estate sector, the implications extend beyond office towers. New corporate activity can create demand for flexible offices, conventional workplaces, housing, retail, food services, transport and other urban services. The report specifically links additional corporate offices with potential growth in local commercial and service businesses. That connection is central to understanding why hiring trends belong to the urban-development conversation: jobs do not operate in isolation from the spaces and systems required to support them.
## The infrastructure and governance test
The movement of jobs beyond metros does not automatically produce balanced urban growth. A city needs more than available office space. It must connect workers to workplaces, provide reliable infrastructure and support the services that make a location viable for companies and employees. The report refers broadly to improving infrastructure and connectivity in several cities, but it does not provide city-level measures of transport capacity, housing supply, power reliability, broadband access or civic-service performance.
That gap matters because employment growth can place pressure on urban systems. A new office market can increase demand for housing and commuting, change land values and intensify the need for public transport. If employment clusters develop without corresponding housing and mobility planning, workers may face longer journeys and higher living costs even in cities that remain cheaper than the major metros.
The institutional challenge is therefore to coordinate commercial growth with urban planning. Companies may choose locations based on rent, talent and access, while municipal and state authorities are responsible for roads, public services, land-use regulation and wider connectivity. The supplied report does not identify specific government programmes or city-level implementation plans, so it cannot establish whether the listed cities are prepared for sustained office-led expansion.
The current evidence does show that companies are experimenting with a more distributed operating structure. The 32 per cent share of planned hiring attributed to Tier-2 cities indicates that the trend is not limited to isolated office announcements. Yet planned hiring is not the same as completed recruitment, and office leasing is not the same as long-term employment creation. These distinctions will be important as cities attempt to convert corporate interest into durable local economies.
## A wider employment map, with unanswered questions
India’s emerging hiring hubs point to a gradual shift from a metro-dominated employment system towards a network of regional centres. Pune’s office-leasing growth, Ahmedabad’s industrial base, Kochi’s technology ecosystem and Bhubaneswar’s services credentials illustrate different routes into this network. There is no single formula: some cities offer established industries, some offer talent and lower costs, and others are building business ecosystems through infrastructure and connectivity.
The larger urban question is whether this expansion can reduce the need for migration without reproducing the pressures associated with major metros. The report presents the possibility of jobs closer to home, but it does not yet establish the scale, quality or permanence of those opportunities. Nor does it show whether local housing, transport and civic systems can keep pace with new demand.
What the evidence confirms is that companies are looking beyond their traditional metropolitan bases and that smaller cities are becoming part of corporate location strategies. The next stage will depend on whether planned hiring becomes operating capacity, whether flexible offices lead to sustained occupancy, and whether urban institutions can support growth beyond the initial commercial real-estate cycle.
