Flexible office visits in Coimbatore rose 41 per cent between December 2025 and May 2026, followed by Jalandhar at 25 per cent and Nashik at 21 per cent, according to IWG
Coimbatore recorded the sharpest increase in visits to flexible office spaces among India’s tier 2 and 3 cities, with usage rising 41 per cent in the six months to May 2026, as demand for workplaces closer to home gains ground beyond major metropolitan areas.
Data from International Workplace Group (IWG), the operator of Regus and Spaces, showed that workspace visits in Coimbatore increased between December 2025 and May 2026 compared with the preceding six-month period. Jalandhar recorded a 25 per cent increase, while visits in Nashik rose 21 per cent. Dehradun and Mohali registered increases of 19 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively.
The figures, released by IWG on October 22, point to growing use of flexible offices in smaller cities amid the adoption of hybrid working arrangements. The company tracks attendance through daily Wi-Fi logins at its locations.
Its analysis covers centres that operated throughout both comparison periods and excludes Delhi NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata from its definition of tier 2 and 3 markets.
Flexible Office Operators Expand Beyond Metros
The increase in workspace usage comes as companies look beyond major cities to accommodate employees closer to their homes and reduce dependence on conventional office locations.
Tier 2 cities have more than 575 flexible workspace centres, accounting for nearly 29 per cent of the national total, according to Vestian data cited by IWG. Flexible offices in these markets can cost up to 50 per cent less than those in metropolitan areas.
IWG added 43 locations in India during the first half of 2026 and signed a record 728 locations globally over the same period.
Over the past two years, the company has entered smaller markets including Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Dehradun, Guwahati, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram and Vadodara. Its more recent openings have included Bhubaneswar, Malappuram, Udaipur, Vadodara and Guwahati.
The company is using an asset-light model for its expansion, which accounted for 95 per cent of its location signings. Under this arrangement, IWG partners with property owners to establish and operate workspaces, reducing the need to invest in property ownership itself.
Christian Schmitz, CEO of International Workplace Group, attributed the rising use of flexible offices in smaller cities to greater acceptance of flexible working among businesses and employees. He said companies were increasingly looking for professional workspace options closer to where their employees lived, while avoiding long-term commitments to fixed office real estate.
Smaller Cities Attract Corporate Workplace Demand
The growth of flexible workspaces is also being supported by urbanisation and the emergence of smaller cities as centres of economic activity and employment.
Research by Colliers, cited by IWG, estimates that 40 per cent of India’s population will live in urban areas in the coming years, with tier 2 cities becoming important growth markets. Flexible workspaces are expected to account for 20-25 per cent of overall office leasing in India in the near term, according to the research.
Harsh Lambah, Country Head and Vice President of Sales for SAARC at IWG, said smaller cities were giving companies access to new markets and local talent as they expanded beyond metropolitan centres.
He added that ready-to-use offices enabled businesses to establish teams and scale operations without substantial upfront investment, while supporting employment creation in regional markets
