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India has made a significant improvement in global real estate transparency, moving from 31st place in 2024 to 26th in 2026, according to the latest JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI). The country is now positioned in the middle of the ‘Transparent’ tier, reflecting gains across regulatory, legal, transaction, listed-market and sustainability parameters. JLL said the five-position jump reflects a maturing regulatory environment, the expansion of India’s REIT ecosystem and strong institutional investment in the country’s real estate sector. Private equity investment in Indian real estate reached $10.5 billion in 2025, up 17% year-on-year, while investment in the first half of 2026 stood at $4.3 billion, an increase of 25% year-on-year. “India did not just improve this year in JLL's Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2026; it set the pace for Asia Pacific,” said Radha Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, India, JLL. She noted that India’s progress over the past decade positions it to move towards the ‘Highly Transparent’ tier. Regulatory reforms drive transparency gains The strongest improvement came in the Regulatory & Legal parameter, where India jumped from 37th to 19th globally and from ninth to sixth in Asia Pacific. JLL attributed the improvement to the maturation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) framework, FDI liberalisation and the digitisation of land records. Initiatives cited in the report include the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM), NAKSHA and the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP). India also maintained a strong position in the Transaction Process parameter, ranking 10th globally and third in Asia Pacific. Greater availability of data on commercial real estate financing, along with the expansion of REITs and institutional investment, has contributed to greater transparency in the market. REIT ecosystem expands India’s listed real estate market also continued to mature. Its global ranking improved from 36th to 35th, while office REIT stock increased 58% from 2024 to 164 million sq ft in 2026. According to JLL, REIT-worthy assets now account for 46% of India’s current Grade A office inventory, while office REIT stock represents 18% of Grade A stock. The BSE Realty Index and India REIT Index have also become important benchmarks for investors assessing listed real estate and income-producing ownership structures. Sustainability ranking improves India’s global sustainability ranking improved from 29th to 27th, while it retained seventh position in Asia Pacific. The improvement was supported by sustainability reporting requirements, including SEBI’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) framework for the top 1,000 listed companies, as well as the National Green Building Mission launched in 2025. Green-certified Grade A office stock increased sharply from around 39% in 2020 to 66% by H1 2026. JLL said certified buildings command a 10-15% rental premium over non-certified buildings after adjusting for factors such as type, location and age cohort. However, JLL identified continuing gaps around Scope 3 reporting, property-level energy disclosures, climate-risk reporting, resilience planning and biodiversity-related reporting. Data centres emerge as a major transparency and investment opportunity Data centres are becoming an increasingly important part of India’s real estate ecosystem. The market had 1,637 MW of inventory by mid-2026, with 2.8% vacancy, 100 MW of absorption and 84.9 MW of completions. A further 4,317 MW was under construction, while the planned pipeline stood at 15,000 MW. JLL expects India’s data centre capacity to expand from 1.6 GW to 6 GW by 2029, requiring around $110 billion of investment. Global hyperscalers have committed more than $50 billion towards AI-ready facilities, while self-build projects account for nearly 30% of new capacity. The report also highlights the evolution of India’s regulatory framework for the sector, covering data protection, investment policy and energy infrastructure. Transparency could unlock more institutional capital JLL believes India’s next phase of development will depend on improving transparency beyond traditional office real estate. The report identifies four key areas for further progress: deeper performance disclosures across asset classes and fund structures, better credit-market intelligence, verified real-time building-performance data and greater use of AI to streamline due diligence and bring fragmented information together. Lata Pillai, Senior Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets, India, JLL, said the record investment seen in the market should be viewed as a foundation for further growth. She pointed to the expansion of office REITs and the data-centre pipeline as evidence of the increasing scale and sophistication of India’s real estate market. The report noted that highly transparent markets continue to account for about 80% of global direct investment, reflecting their deeper capital markets and scale. However, JLL said rapidly improving markets such as those in Asia Pacific and the Middle East are increasingly attracting capital as they narrow the transparency gap. Beyond traditional office and retail, alternative sectors such as data centres, manufacturing and infrastructure now account for 20% of global direct transaction volumes, double their share from a decade ago. For India, the improvement in the GRETI ranking therefore comes alongside a broader institutionalisation of the real estate market—with regulatory reforms, REIT expansion, sustainability disclosures and the rapid growth of digital infrastructure collectively shaping the next phase of the sector. 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