India’s Green Office Space Grows 65% in Top Cities Since 2019

India’s top seven cities have seen a 65% surge in Grade A green-certified office space since 2019, according to a new report by real estate consultancy Anarock. As of the first half of 2025, approximately 530 million sq. ft. of the total 865 million sq. ft. Grade A office stock is certified under sustainability frameworks such as LEED, IGBC, or GRIHA. In 2019, this figure stood at just 322 million sq. ft.

Bengaluru leads the green office space market with 163 million sq. ft., accounting for 31% of the total green-certified stock across the top seven cities. It also tops in percentage terms, with 73% of its total Grade A office space being green-certified. The National Capital Region (NCR) follows with 97 million sq. ft., while Hyderabad contributes 16% of the total stock.

The report attributes this shift to growing demand from global occupiers such as MNCs and GCCs, who increasingly insist on sustainable work environments. Government-driven sustainability initiatives have also contributed to this momentum.

In contrast, India’s residential real estate segment has yet to see a similar transformation. Green-certified housing remains limited, highlighting commercial real estate as the frontrunner in the country’s sustainability journey.

65 percent growth in green-certified Grade A office space over six years - reaching 530 million sq. ft. or roughly 61 percent of total premium office stock - represents genuine market transformation rather than headline-only progress. Bengaluru's 73 percent green-certification rate is particularly noteworthy, positioning the city as one of the leading global markets for sustainable commercial real estate.

The demand-side driver is significant: MNCs and Global Capability Centres increasingly mandate green-certified space in their real-estate strategies as part of Scope 3 emissions management. For Indian developers, green certification has moved from premium differentiator to baseline expectation for the highest-value tenants. Residential real estate's slower transformation reflects different demand dynamics.

For real-estate developers, corporate occupiers, financial institutions supporting sustainable real estate, and their asset managers, Cognitud's climate action, impact assessment and ESG strategy teams help clients evaluate green-certification pathways (LEED, IGBC, GRIHA), structure embodied-carbon reduction strategies, and prepare disclosures aligned with CSRD, ISSB and jurisdictional built-environment sustainability requirements that increasingly determine occupier preference and investment capital access.