Awfis Chief Amit Ramani On How Co-Working Sector Will Take A Big Pie Of India’s GCC Boom

It’s been a year since a bumper listing opened up the growth path for Awfis, and now the company is looking to grab a big slice of the GCC boom currently swepping across the country.. 

Awfis saw its revenue surge 44% in the third quarter of fiscal 2024-25 to INR 318 Cr, while its EBITDA jumped 59% over the previous year to INR 107 Cr, driving a margin of 33.8%, wider by 320 basis points.

In the second quarter of FY25, the top line shot off 40% over the previous year to INR 292.38 Cr. The company not only stepped out of an INR 4.3 Cr loss it had incurred in Q1, it swung into an INR 38.67 Cr profit in the three months to September 2024.

All this happened in a year when the stock prices of most new-age companies either tumbled or slipped into the red. Awfis held strong, and hit an all-time high of INR 945 earlier this year. The shares closed at INR 671.7 on April 3.

The first coworking space company to go public, Awfis, after a stellar debut on the bourses, has inspired a host of shared work space solution providers like Indiqube, DevX, and Smartworks to explore public floats in 2025. 

Amit Ramani, the founder, CEO, chairman and managing director of the coworking space solutions provider, is bullish on the growth of global capability centres, or GCCs, set up by multinationals.

GCCs are single-handedly creating huge demand for shared workspace. With favourable government policies, we’ll see more GCCs coming up in the country and, prospects for companies like Awfis will grow in sync,” the chairman added.

Awfis Banks On The GCC Boom

The GCCs, also called global in-house centres (GICs), are the modern-day version of back offices set up for outsourcing business processes to India. Such facilities have evolved into innovation hubs and centres of excellence in India, according to an HSBC report.

Thanks to policy support and a business-friendly environment, the country is set to host 2,550 such centres, with a market value of $110 Bn by 2030. 

A report by Colliers said GCCs contributed 60% of the overall office leasing activity in 2024, when GCC leasing spiked 41% to 25.7 Mn sq ft across top six cities. This demand is expected to reach 30 Mn sq ft, accounting for around 40% of the total office space demand, in 2025. Bengaluru and Hyderabad are likely to remain preferred knowledge and innovation-driven GCC hubs, said the report. 

Flexible space operators, along with industries such as banking and financial services, technology and engineering, are now contributing half of the office leasing activity, Colliers said in its report.

Coworking companies serve the MNCs with strategic business needs. These are cost-efficient and make perfect fit for their hybrid model of operation. 

Some metro and non-metro cities have recently seen a surge in GCCs set up by mid-sized tech companies, with some of them going for micro GCCs that employ 40-50 people, the founder of a Bengaluru-based proptech firm said.

This trend, according to one founder in the real estate space, calls for tailor-made solutions for multinationals to provide an agile work environment to their remote workers. The increasing demand for customisation prompts flex space providers to innovate products.

Overseas companies, for instance, may need a custom-made, smart, ready-to-use office setup without necessarily committing an investment for the long term like in conventional real estate business partnerships. Large enterprises, as per market analysts, too are turning to coworking spaces in a big way. 

Awfis recently launched Awfis Elite – a luxury workspace solution crafted for GCCs and large enterprises.

“As GCCs increasingly prefer agile workspace solutions over traditional leases, Awfis has capitalised on this trend by offering customisable, tech-enabled offices with short-term leasing options,” Ramani told Inc42.

The Awfis chief added this offering goes beyond traditional office spaces to provide an elevated work experience tailored to global enterprises.

The company is also weighing expansion to Tier 1 and 2 cities. “In their initial phase, GCCs often require smaller, agile setups, but as they scale operations rapidly, their need for expanded workspace grows within a year,” he claimed.

Going Asset-Light To Push Growth

Building office spaces is a cash-intensive business. To address this, the company has partnered with landlords under the managed aggregation model. It involves sharing of both expenses and profits between the two sides. Awfis typically sets the minimum guarantee at 50% of market rental. 

“Around 67% of our total seats and 63% of total centres operate under the MA model,” Ramani said.

This strategy continues to drive operational efficiency and long-term growth.

“Majority of the capital investment in these arrangements comes from our partners, which significantly reduces our capital expenditure. This not only makes Awfis asset-light but also helps us mitigate risks associated with occupancy build-up. This model ensures high returns on capital employed (ROCE), exceeding 75%,” he added.

Did this translate into profits and play a key driver for margins? As per its internal estimates, under the MA strategy, there has been a 37% on-year growth in seats from 70,000 to nearly 96,000 in 2024. Awfis also saw a 26% increase in coworking centres under the MA model from 107 to 135 between 2023 and 2024.

Awfis has over 3,000 active clients with 66% of the seats taken by large corporations and MNCs, 20% by SMEs, and 13% by startups. Freelancers occupy the rest.

While nearly 77% of its revenue in Q3 of FY25 came from coworking and allied services, amounting to INR 234 Cr, its newer products like construction, fit-out projects, design and build contributed to the remaining 23% of the topline at INR 73 Cr. 

“We recently secured a deal with the NSE to design, build, and manage over 1.65 Lakh sq ft of office space in BKC, Mumbai. Our clients hail from various industries – from healthcare and financials to industrials, IT, and consumer goods. Some of our key clients include Lenovo, Capgemini, Subway, Clevertap, and Atlas Copco,” Ramani said.

Betting Big On Small Towns 

Although 80%-85% of the demand for coworking space stems from metros and large cities, Awfis is concentrating heavily on Tier 2  and beyond.

“Smaller cities are primed for shared workspaces, driven by a rising demand from the GCCs. The government’s new framework to promote GCCs in these cities is accelerating this shift, driving the need for flexible, hybrid workspaces. After the pandemic, commercial real estate demand in tier-II cities has surged. Industries like ecommerce, IT, and quick commerce are actively tapping into the tier-II talent pool,” the Awfis MD added.

The coworking company ventured into smaller towns in 2018 by setting up a centre in Chandigarh and claimed to be the first flex space operator in India to enter micro-markets.

“In line with this vision, we are further strengthening our presence by expanding into Lucknow. Since December 2023, we have grown our footprints in tier-II cities by 29% and increased our network from 17 to 22 centres. This expansion reinforces our commitment to unlocking the immense potential of these emerging markets,” he said.

In terms of performance by micro-markets, the Awfis boss said that cities like Jaipur and Bhubaneswar have emerged as strong performers, fuelled by cost-effective real estate, a growing pool of skilled talent, and improving infrastructure. These factors make them increasingly attractive to businesses looking for flexible workspace solutions, contributing to the company’s expanding presence in these markets.

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]