Bengaluru, Feb 4, 2026, 00:49 IST
- Report says Alphabet may take about 2.4 million sq ft of new office space in Bengaluru’s Whitefield corridor
- Site could house up to 20,000 additional staff, potentially more than doubling Alphabet’s India footprint
- Expansion talk comes as tougher U.S. visa rules and higher H-1B costs push firms to rethink where work gets done
Google parent Alphabet is weighing a major expansion in India that could add space for as many as 20,000 employees in Bengaluru, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. The company has leased one office tower and taken options on two more at Alembic City in Whitefield, totalling about 2.4 million square feet, the report said. The first tower is expected to open to employees in coming months, while construction on the other two is due to finish next year. (Reuters)
The timing matters. Companies are facing tighter scrutiny of H-1B visas — permits used to hire skilled foreign workers — while the Trump administration also weighs taxes on outsourced work, according to the report. Donald Trump has raised the cost of new H-1B visa applications to $100,000 from an older range of $2,000 to $5,000. (Streetinsider)
If Alphabet occupies all of the space, the complex could accommodate as many as 20,000 additional staff, which could more than double the company’s footprint in India, the report said. Alphabet employs around 14,000 in the country, out of a global workforce of roughly 190,000, and is among the top sponsors of H-1B visas, according to U.S. government data. Alphabet did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (MarketScreener)
Real-estate options usually give a would-be tenant the right — not the obligation — to take more space later. Bloomberg Law described Alphabet as leasing one tower and buying options on two others at the Whitefield development. (Bloomberg Law)
It was not clear how quickly Alphabet would fill the space, or which teams would work from the new campus.
Analysts have long warned that making U.S. work visas harder and pricier can shift how global tech firms build teams. In September, Derren Nathan at Hargreaves Lansdown said the programme “punches above its weight when it comes to driving innovation.” (Reuters)
The shift is feeding India’s rise as a hub for “global capability centres” — in-house offshore units that handle everything from finance support to engineering. TeamLease Services said in November that India could host more than 2,400 such centres by 2030, up from more than 1,800 now. Rishi Agarwal, CEO of TeamLease RegTech, said: “People don’t just change hiring and firing at the whim of some political policy-related decision.” (Reuters)
For companies, GCCs can be a way to keep critical work in-house while tapping a large talent pool outside their home market. In India, the centres have spread well beyond routine back-office work into product development and research.
But Alphabet has not said it will take all the space, and options can lapse if a tenant does not exercise them. The $100,000 H-1B fee is also being challenged in court by business and research groups, a fight that could still reshape costs for U.S. employers. (Reuters)
