Bengaluru, June 11 – India is strengthening its position as a leading talent hub for financial services, with its cities favorably placed in terms of labour availability, talent pipeline, VC funding activity and industry output, according to new research from Colliers.
The Global Financial Services Markets: Top Talent Locations 2026 report found financial services location strategies were shifting as firms balanced access to talent, cost competitiveness and rapid technology change. While established global hubs continued to anchor industry, a more distributed network of strategic and emerging markets was playing a growing role as organizations revised where work was being done.
Drawing on an analysis of more than 200 markets worldwide, the research highlights and categorizes financial markets where talent depth, investment activity and long‑term growth prospects are converging.
3 Tier categorization of leading Global Financial Services Markets (2026)
|
Category |
Features |
List of Indian cities |
Select comparable global peers |
Top city in the category |
|
Global Centers |
These are markets with high levels of connectivity, global scale and significant concentrations of financial services head offices. Offices based in these cities tend to have a material influence on organizational strategy and dense front-office labour pools |
Mumbai |
Los Angeles, Sydney, Tokyo, Zurich |
New York |
|
Strategic Centers |
These markets tend to play a critical regional or strategic role in the financial services ecosystem and have a moderate cost of living. They tend to host both front-office and back-office capabilities, with a significant concentration of delivery centers and head offices. |
Delhi NCR |
Guangzhou, Montreal, Washington D.C. -Baltimore |
Dallas Fort-Worth |
|
Domestic & Operational Centres |
While these markets play host to several head offices, their talent tends to be more operational and delivery-focused, often supporting Global and Strategic Centres with back-office, shared services, or specialised functions. |
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai |
Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Sao Paulo |
Manila |
Source: Colliers’ Global Financial Services Markets: Top Talent Locations 2026 report
Asia Pacific accounted for 39% of the global financial services companies included in the analysis, the highest share of any region, reinforcing its position as a core pillar of global industry activity. This scale was matched by a broad distribution of talent markets, with the region representing about 36% of global centers identified in the rankings. APAC also dominated in terms of domestic and operational centers, claiming 44% of the markets ranked.
Major regional cities, including Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and leading Indian markets such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi-NCR, rank among the leading global financial services locations, with strong performance in venture capital funding, labour strength, and industry output.
Mumbai, Delhi NCR & Bengaluru ranked among the world’s Top 30 financial services markets
India positions itself as a key talent hub, with Mumbai featuring prominently amongst leading “Global Centres” for financial services talent. Delhi NCR emerged as a leading “Strategic Centre”, while Bengaluru was identified as one of the top “Domestic & Operational Centres” globally.
India Snapshot: Global Financial Services Markets 2026
|
Category |
City |
Indian |
Global |
|||
|
Overall score |
Labour index score |
VC funding score |
Industry output score |
Top overall score |
||
|
Global Centre |
Mumbai |
3.0 |
3.6 |
2.8 |
2.6 |
4.6 |
|
Strategic Centre |
Delhi NCR |
2.6 |
3.1 |
3.3 |
2.0 |
3.1 |
|
Domestic & operational Centre |
Bengaluru |
2.7 |
4.0 |
2.8 |
1.6 |
2.8 |
|
Chennai |
2.2 |
2.4 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
||
|
Hyderabad |
2.2 |
2.4 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
||
|
Pune |
2.2 |
3.5 |
2.5 |
1.0 |
Source: Colliers’ Global Financial Services Markets: Top Talent Locations 2026 report
Notes: Scores are on a scale of 0 to 5 | Labour index encompasses talent pool size, talent density, open job posts, etc. | VC Funding encompasses factors such as 10-year total VC fund, deal count, etc. | Industry output reflects a combination of factors such as the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product, overall productivity, etc.
“India is rapidly strengthening its position as a global financial services hub, backed by a deep talent pool, technology expertise and operational scale. As firms increasingly look beyond global financial headquarters and delivery centers, Indian cities are well positioned to support both strategic and high-value business functions. Not surprisingly, Mumbai, Delhi NCR & Bengaluru feature in the list of top 30 global financial services talent centers. Moreover, with increasing space uptake from leading global and domestic BFSI firms, the sector is likely to account for 15-20% of office demand in the next few years,” said Arpit Mehrotra, Managing Director, Office Services, Colliers India.
Overall, India continues to lead the APAC region on talent depth and labour strength, with Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru ranking among the region’s strongest markets for financial services talent. These cities, supported by large, skilled workforces and strong pipelines of financial services professionals, reinforce India’s role as a critical talent market for both regional and global organizations. In fact, with large talent pools and concentrations of target occupations, India leads the labour index category in APAC region with Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune ranking as the top three markets.
Talent, technology and scale drive the growth of financial services in India
India’s leading office markets continue to benefit from strong talent availability, technology expertise and the growing real estate footprint of companies from the BFSI domain. While Mumbai remains the country’s leading financial hub, cities such as Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai are increasingly attracting financial services firms led by cost arbitrage, equally deep talent pools and fast maturing business ecosystems.
As organizations seek scalable talent and specialized skills in areas such as digital banking, risk management, data analytics and AI, leading Indian cities remain well positioned to become key regional talent hubs for financial services.
Data-driven decisions are shaping the future
The report also noted a growing shift towards data-driven decision-making among financial services leaders as organisations optimise workforce and location strategies in an increasingly dynamic business environment.
“As organizations reassess their talent and real estate strategies, access to market data and insights is becoming more important. Firms taking an evidence-based approach will be better positioned to compete for talent and capture growth. We envisage a more distributed and flexible global model for financial services delivery, with Asia Pacific positioned at the center of future growth,” said Mike Davis, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Occupier Services, Colliers.
Overall, India’s financial services market is becoming increasingly multi-faceted, with leading cities strengthening front-office capabilities and simultaneously moving up the value chain with more complex functions. This ongoing transition is being further driven by digitalisation and rising adoption of AI, reshaping workspace models across demand sectors, including financial services.
