Co-working companies accounted for 26 per cent of India’s office demand between January and September 2026, narrowly overtaking information technology and IT-enabled services at 25 per cent, according to findings released by Anarock Research & Advisory on Tuesday.
The shift marks the first time co-working has emerged as the largest occupier category over a nine-month period in India’s office space market. It points to a changing pattern in how businesses are taking office space, with flexible workspaces gaining ground against the sector that has traditionally been one of the largest sources of commercial office demand.
Anarock’s findings place the two categories almost level, with the one-percentage-point difference indicating how closely the market is being contested. Co-working’s 26 per cent share covers office demand recorded during the January-September period, while IT/ITeS accounted for 25 per cent over the same timeframe.
The report attributes the change to an increasing preference among enterprises for flexible workspaces. Such spaces allow companies to occupy offices through co-working or flex-workspace providers rather than relying only on conventional office arrangements. The finding therefore captures not only the performance of co-working operators, but also a change in the way enterprises are approaching workplace requirements.
For India’s commercial real estate market, the result places flexible office providers at the centre of current leasing activity. It also makes the co-working segment an important indicator of office demand, alongside the established role of IT and IT-enabled services. The figures do not establish whether co-working has permanently displaced IT/ITeS as the leading occupier category, but they record a clear change during the first nine months of 2026.
The development is significant for the urban office system because occupier demand influences which types of buildings and leasing formats attract enterprise users. The report’s findings suggest that flexibility has become a stronger factor in office-space decisions, although the supplied data does not provide a city-wise breakdown, details of the enterprises involved or the total volume of office space leased.
Anarock released the findings on Tuesday. The January-September data provides the latest reported comparison between co-working and IT/ITeS in India’s office market, with co-working holding the lead at 26 per cent against 25 per cent for IT/ITeS.
