Karan Virwani on India’s new growth playbook: Flexibility, talent and scale

Flexible workspaces now account for nearly 20% of all new office leasing in India

, reflecting a significant shift in how businesses are approaching growth, talent, and scalability. At the same time, India’s GCC ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with global companies increasingly viewing the country not just as a back office, but as a strategic hub for innovation and operations.

These themes took centre stage at the WeWork India presents CNBC-TV18 The Titans co-presented by PhonePe, where Karan Virwani, MD & CEO, WeWork India, spoke extensively on the future of enterprise growth, workplace transformation, and India’s evolving business landscape.

Opening the summit, Mr Virwani spoke about India’s transition from supporting global businesses to building globally significant companies from within its own ecosystem. “For years, India helped build global businesses. Now, increasingly, global businesses are being built from India,” he said.

Highlighting the country’s growing entrepreneurial momentum, he added, “For the first time, all the ingredients are here at once, talent, capital, infrastructure, ambition, and confidence.”

He also emphasised that WeWork India sees itself through a lens beyond real estate. “We stopped looking at ourselves as a real estate company a long time ago. We want to build the infrastructure layer that helps ambition grow,” he noted.

A key highlight of the summit was the panel discussion titled Rise of Flex Spaces & Hybrid Real Estate, where Karan Virwani joined Gulam Zia and Niranjan Hiranandani to discuss the rapid evolution of India’s commercial real estate sector. The discussion explored how hybrid work, rising GCC demand, and changing workforce expectations are accelerating the adoption of flexible workspaces across the country.

During the session, Mr Virwani highlighted how businesses are rethinking traditional workplace models in favour of agility and distributed operations. He noted that enterprises are increasingly prioritising workplace flexibility, faster scalability, and access to talent while moving away from conventional centralised office formats. “Companies have realised they don’t always need one large central headquarters,” he said, underlining the growing preference for decentralised workplace strategies.

Adding to the discussion around evolving workplace ecosystems, Mr Hiranandani highlighted how employee expectations are increasingly shaping real estate demand. “Today, people want accessibility, transport, hospitals, retail, entertainment, they want complete destinations, not isolated buildings,” he said.

The discussion also focused on the supply-demand imbalance in India’s premium commercial real estate market, particularly in key business districts. Mr Zia noted that “commercial real estate in India is facing a serious supply-side constraint while demand continues to rise rapidly.”

Expanding on the broader outlook for the sector, the panellists discussed how rising investor confidence in REITs, improving infrastructure, and India’s growing talent ecosystem are reshaping long-term demand across commercial real estate and flexible workspace models. Flexibility, speed, and future-ready infrastructure emerged as central themes for businesses looking to scale in an increasingly dynamic environment.

Throughout the summit, one message remained clear: India is entering a defining phase of enterprise growth, driven by innovation, agility, and rapidly evolving business ecosystems. From the rise of flexible workspaces and hybrid real estate models to the expansion of GCCs and future-ready infrastructure, the conversations highlighted how businesses are rethinking growth, talent, and scale in a rapidly transforming economy.

Get more insights from WeWork India presents CNBC-TV18 The Titans co-presented by PhonePe at https://ms.cnbctv18.com/titans/

Watch the insightful discussion here: