Alphabet plans India expansion with up to 2.4 million sq ft Bengaluru lease, space for 20,000 staff, amid tighter US visa scrutiny

Source: [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-plans-major-india-expansion-180719824.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-plans-major-india-expansion-180719824.html)

>Google-parent Alphabet has leased one office tower in Bengaluru, India's tech hub, and holds the ​option to occupy at least two additional buildings, according to ‌a lease document reviewed by Reuters, signaling the company's expansion in the country's fast-growing ‌tech sector.

>The company has signed a lease for an office space spanning over 656,000 square feet in Alembic City, a lease document from real estate data analytics firm Propstack showed.

>On February 3, Bloomberg News reported that Alphabet ⁠has leased one office tower ‌and purchased options on two others, totaling 2.4 million square feet, citing people familiar with the deal.

>If Alphabet ‍occupies all the space, the complex could house up to 20,000 additional staff, more than doubling the company's footprint in India, Bloomberg News reported.

>A Google spokesperson told ​Reuters via email that it maintains a presence across India and ‌in 2024 leased one tower of about 650,000 square feet in the Bengaluru property complex cited in recent reports.

>The firm operates from three offices in Bengaluru and last February launched one of its largest offices worldwide, in the city.

>The expansion comes at a time when U.S. President Donald ⁠Trump's tougher stance on immigration, including tighter ​H-1B visa scrutiny and potential taxes on ​outsourced work, could hasten U.S. firms' shift of critical work to India.

>Alphabet is among the top sponsors of H-1B visas, ‍according to U.S. ⁠government data.

>In October, Google had said it would invest $15 billion over five years to set up an artificial intelligence data centre in ⁠India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, its biggest ever investment in the nation.