Home ／ Insights on entering the Indian market
2026.03.24
Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) is India's capital region and the center of politics, the economy, and diplomacy. The wide economic zone, which includes Delhi proper as well as Gurugram (Gurugram), Noida, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad, functions as one of India's largest business hubs.
Office leasing area in Delhi NCR reached 15.8 million square feet in 2025, up 24% year on year and a record high. The IT/BPM sector accounted for 37% of demand, followed by professional services (15%) and engineering/manufacturing (14%).
Among the 1,434 Japanese companies operating in India, Delhi and Haryana (including Gurugram) form one of the largest concentrations of Japanese companies. Major companies such as Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Hitachi, Daikin, Yamaha, and Uniqlo have bases in Delhi NCR.
Uniqlo has opened a new store in Noida and also runs an online "Shop from Home" service. Japanese retailers are actively expanding into the Delhi NCR market.
Delhi NCR (the National Capital Region) has a population of about 50 million, making it North India's largest consumer market. The share of affluent households is also high, and demand for luxury brands and imported food is strong. In particular, IT and finance professionals with high purchasing power are concentrated around Cyber City and Golf Course Road in Gurugram.
Because of its function as the capital, Delhi is an indispensable base for government-related business, regulatory compliance, and obtaining licenses and permits. It is also home to the Japanese Embassy and the JETRO Delhi office, giving it the most developed support system for Japanese companies.
Delhi NCR also functions as a distribution and sales hub for North India (Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and others). It is the gateway to a North Indian market covering a population of more than 500 million.
In March 2025, Prime Minister Modi received 20 executives of Keizai Doyukai (the Japan Association of Corporate Executives) in Delhi and discussed Japan-India cooperation in AI, small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, and clean energy. At the 15th Japan-India annual summit in August 2025, a target was set for 10 trillion yen (about $68 billion) in Japanese private investment into India over the next ten years, and Delhi is the strategic hub for that effort.
Infrastructure investment is active, including the expansion of the Delhi Metro's lines, the construction of new expressways, and the development of Noida International Airport (Jewar). The Delhi Metro, built in particular with Japanese yen loans, is known as a symbol of Japan-India cooperation.
Delhi NCR is not "one city" but a wide region made up of multiple cities with different functions. The central government, regulators, and foreign embassies are concentrated in Delhi proper, while Japanese companies' offices and factories spread across neighboring Gurugram (Gurugram) and Noida. When entering the market, deciding in advance which function goes in which city makes it easier to balance rent, commuting, and hiring.
| City / area | Main role | Suitable functions / industries | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi (proper) | Politics, administration, diplomacy | Government relations, licensing, government-related sales | Central government ministries, regulators, embassies, and JETRO are concentrated here. Land is limited, making it unsuitable for manufacturing |
| Gurugram (Gurugram) | The hub for sales and overall management | Auto parts, trading companies, IT/BPO, finance/insurance, services | One of the largest concentrations of Japanese companies in the country, with more than 450 bases. Talent is concentrated in Cyber City, and living infrastructure is well developed. Rent is on the higher side |
| Noida | An IT and manufacturing base | Electronics, IT, manufacturing | A newly developed city with planned sector zoning. About 20km from central Delhi, with Noida International Airport under development. Costs are easier to keep down than in Gurugram |
| Faridabad / Ghaziabad | A manufacturing and logistics hinterland | Manufacturing, warehousing/logistics | Land and labor costs are easier to keep down, making it an option for production and logistics bases. Access to the city center is somewhat weaker |
Placing sales and overall management in Gurugram, IT and manufacturing in Noida, government relations in Delhi proper, and production in the hinterland — distributing functions this way — is the basic pattern for keeping the burden down in Delhi NCR.
When setting up a sales or headquarters base in Delhi NCR, the first step is deciding which area of Delhi proper to place it in. Connaught Place (CP) in the center is a top-tier commercial address with high rent even by NCR standards, suited to a base that prioritizes relations with government offices and major companies. Aerocity, adjacent to Indira Gandhi International Airport, has a metro station connected directly to the airport and Grade-A office towers, making it a new business district gathering service bases for trading companies, finance, and consulting. If keeping costs down is the priority, there are also areas such as Okhla in the south where rent is significantly cheaper than in the center, so you can choose according to the function you need and your budget.
If you're entering the market for manufacturing or parts supply, the focus shifts from Delhi proper to industrial parks in the surrounding states. Rajasthan's Neemrana Industrial Area is known as an industrial park dedicated to Japanese companies, based on a memorandum between JETRO and the state development corporation, and with its plots now fully sold out, development of its successor, the Ghiloth Industrial Area, is also underway. For automobiles and parts, the supply chain is concentrated along the corridor running from Gurugram through Manesar to Neemrana, letting you take advantage of proximity to your business partners.
Compared with other cities in South or West India, Delhi NCR's well-developed living infrastructure for expatriates is also a reason it is chosen as a business location. On the education side, there is the New Delhi Japanese School (Vasant Kunj), with school buses running from residential areas such as Vasant Vihar, Anand Niketan, Gurugram, and Defence Colony. On the medical side, Japanese clinics with resident Japanese interpreters are available, such as Keyaki Family Clinic and Himawari Family Clinic in Gurugram. The Japanese Association of Delhi is also active, making it an environment where expatriates can easily build networks and get information about daily life.
As for where to live, areas such as Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar, and Defence Colony in Delhi proper, and around Cyber City and Golf Course Road on the Gurugram side, are popular among Japanese residents. The basic approach is to choose an area based on the balance of workplace, school, and daily convenience.
One thing that cannot be avoided when running a business in Delhi NCR is air pollution from autumn into winter. India's Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) triggers the staged Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) when pollution worsens, and at the most severe stage, measures such as vehicle restrictions, bans on some cargo trucks, and halts to construction work are imposed. In November 2024, the most severe Stage 4 was triggered, affecting logistics, business continuity, and the health of expatriates. It's reassuring to factor in this seasonal factor in advance, with measures such as air purifiers and N95 masks on hand and a policy for switching to remote work.
On the other hand, infrastructure development is moving forward. Phase 1 of Noida International Airport (Jewar) was completed on March 28, 2026, and commercial operations began on June 15. It has begun operating as a wide-area gateway second only to Delhi International Airport. In addition to the Delhi Metro's wide network, extension of the high-speed rail-style RRTS (Namo Bharat) is also progressing, and travel between NCR's cities is expected to keep improving. The state of this development gives you material to consider when thinking about site location and expatriates' commuting routes.
Delhi NCR is strong as a business location because the concentration of Japanese companies itself forms a trading base. A JETRO survey shows that about 80% of the production bases of Japanese manufacturers in India are concentrated in the northwest, spanning the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, and northern Delhi is also said to have the largest number of Japanese companies of any region in the country. Because a wide range of industries — trading companies, electrical equipment, logistics, finance, and more, centered on automobiles and parts — form layers of depth, the burden of developing business partners from scratch is smaller when it comes to sourcing materials, securing partner companies, and hiring talent.
In terms of market size, Delhi NCR is North India's largest consumer market, with a population of about 50 million, and one where the purchasing power of the affluent and middle classes is also high. It is also a starting point for distribution across the North Indian region — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and more — with a population of over 500 million. For companies entering with consumer goods or services, the appeal is being able to capture both NCR's own market size and the breadth of its hinterland.
When making an entry concrete, start by defining the function Delhi NCR will serve (sales/management, manufacturing, logistics, government relations, etc.) and then choose the area and type of base that fits it. For manufacturing, that means industrial parks and land; for sales/management, office areas and talent; in either case, building a local partner network and an accounting/labor management structure follows. Labor costs have continued to rise, with annual base pay increases running at around 8-9% in recent years, so it makes sense to plan hiring and costs over the medium term. In labor management, past labor disputes at factories are often cited as a lesson, and building a structure that reflects local practices is key to stable operations.
Because Delhi NCR is an inland economic zone with no coastline, logistics for manufacturing and export are designed around a combination of rail, road, and air. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a joint Japan-India project, and the dedicated freight rail line along it, form an artery carrying products from Delhi NCR to west-coast ports in Gujarat such as Mundra Port and Kandla Port. The Gurugram-Manesar-Neemrana corridor, where automobiles and parts are concentrated, is located along National Highway 8 (Delhi-Mumbai) and functions as one with this logistics axis.
For air cargo, Noida International Airport, whose Phase 1 opened in March 2026, is planned to handle large-scale passenger and cargo traffic in the future alongside Delhi International Airport. Being inland, its distance to port access is inferior to west-coast cities, but combining the strength of being located at the center of a huge domestic market with the developing rail, road, and air networks makes it possible to build a supply network based in North India. For manufacturers with a high export ratio, it is realistic to design with an eye toward dividing roles with a western base closer to a port.
Delhi NCR's business environment is being further strengthened, with office leasing area hitting a record high in 2025. It is one of the largest concentrations among the 1,434 Japanese companies in India, and an indispensable base for regulatory compliance as a center of politics, administration, and diplomacy. As the strategic hub for the 10-trillion-yen Japan-India investment target, Delhi NCR's importance will likely grow further.
It is the collective term for the wide economic zone made up of Delhi proper plus surrounding cities such as Gurugram (Gurugram), Noida, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad. It is one of India's largest business hubs, characterized by a gathering of cities with different functions.
The basic approach is to choose by the function it will serve. Gurugram suits sales/management and finance/services, Noida suits IT and manufacturing, and Delhi proper suits government relations and licensing. Production and logistics can also be distributed to the hinterland, such as Faridabad.
A wide range of industries gather here, including auto parts, trading companies, IT/BPO, finance/insurance, and consumer goods/retail. Because it holds North India's largest consumer market, it is a highly suitable region for a sales base.
These include the concentration of the central government, regulators, and embassies, which makes licensing and policy engagement easier; a huge consumer market of about 50 million people; and serving as a gateway to North India, including Uttar Pradesh, with a population of over 500 million.
Office rent and labor costs are on the higher side even by national standards, and costs run especially high in central Gurugram. Winter air pollution, traffic congestion, and a shortage of land in the city center are also challenges, so it is realistic to place manufacturing in Noida or the hinterland.
Start by defining, based on the product/service you want to sell and your customers, what function Delhi NCR will serve. Then choose a city/area that fits the function, arrange your office, talent, and local partners, and follow the sound approach of starting small and expanding while watching the response.
MORE
Can Japanese products be placed on India's quick commerce?Will supermarkets in India stock Japanese products?Is wholesaling to India's ubiquitous kirana shops possible?Which malls in India are UNIQLO and MUJI in?Where does sales channel development in India start? How distribution works and how to choose a channelOrders placed in India do not arrive | How to find suppliers of ingredients and materials, and what to do about itSOJAPAN
We support Japanese companies entering India, from market research through local partner development, test sales, and import.