Flexible workspace operator WeWork India has signed a 141,392 sq ft managed office deal with Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd in Chennai, marking its maiden lease transaction with the information technology (IT) services major, said two people familiar with the development.
The office space has been leased to Cognizant across two floors at Embassy Splendid TechZone, an office park, on Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Road, which can accommodate 2,605 seats. The lease tenure is 24 months. Cognizant will be paying around ₹14,000 per seat per month at the WeWork India centre.
Earlier this year, US-headquartered Cognizant pre-leased about 650,000 sq ft at the same property from Embassy Office Parks REIT to set up a global capability centre (GCC) for its client, US Bancorp, on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Under the BOT model, a company typically builds and operates a facility for a client and then transfers it to the latter after a period of time. In a pre-lease transaction, the agreement to rent the property is made before it is constructed.
Shift towards flexible spaces
“The Cognizant-WeWork transaction indicates the growing preference for flexible, incubation spaces. There are a number of deals where a large company takes up a managed office or a flexible workspace to operate from before moving to a larger, more permanent office space,” said the first person mentioned above, who did not wish to be named.
Spokespersons from Cognizant and WeWork India did not respond to Mint's queries.
Cognizant has been recalibrating and consolidating its real estate footprint in India over the last couple of years. Last year, the technology firm sold a property spread in Chennai to prominent commercial office developer Bagmane Constructions for over ₹600 crore. It is likely to be developed into an office park in the future.
Simultaneously, Cognizant has been taking up space on lease for clients and renewing existing office leases.
WeWork India entered Chennai in 2024, and currently has three operational centres in the city. One of the largest flex office operators in the country, it has 79 spanning 9.1 million sq ft, with around 113,400 members. It is majority-owned and promoted by property developer Embassy Group, and operates as a separate business.
Office demand hits record
India's commercial office market defied the West Asia war and its global impact with strong leasing in the January-June period across the top cities, propelled by global capability centres (GCCs) and flexible workspace operators.
The sector recorded gross leasing of 45.5 million sq ft in the first half of 2026, the highest ever recorded in any half-year period, up from 41.5 million sq ft last year, according to CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd.
GCCs anchored demand, accounting for 43% of total office space take-up during the period, with leasing by these centres reaching an all-time high of 19.6 million sq ft.
“IT services firms are taking up office space either for themselves or for their clients on a build-operate-transfer model. They are building and operating purpose centres for global clients, which get eventually transferred to the latter,” said Ram Chandnani, managing director, leasing services, India, CBRE, a property advisory.
IT services firms are also increasingly adopting a combination of long-term office space and flexible, incubation centres, particularly to serve global clients as the GCC momentum stays strong, Chandnani added.