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Mumbai has emerged as the only Indian city in IWG's 2026 Work From Anywhere Index, scoring ahead of global cities including London and Miami, as flexible and remote working increasingly influence how professionals choose where to work and travel.
Mumbai made its debut in the fourth edition of the annual index with a total score of 77. Bangkok topped the global ranking with a score of 106.5, followed by Tokyo at 96.5 and Barcelona at 95.5. The index evaluates cities on parameters including climate, broadband speed, accommodation, transport, food, culture and availability of flexible workspaces to assess their suitability for professionals working remotely while travelling. Mumbai scored strongly on the cost of transport, availability of co-working and flexible workspaces, climate and accommodation. However, the city received relatively lower scores on broadband speed and quality, availability of local events and the happiness index. The report also cited data from Cushman & Wakefield's Global Trends in Flexible Office 2025 report, according to which India scored 100 on its flexible workspace maturity index, ahead of the UK at 98, France at 97 and the US at 81. India was also the largest flexible office market in the Asia-Pacific region, with 79.7 million square feet of stock across its top eight cities as of the second quarter of 2025, which is expected to cross 100 million square feet in 2026, according to the release. The index comes as flexible working is also changing travel patterns globally. Separate research commissioned by IWG found that 51 per cent of workers surveyed said their employer already offered a Work From Anywhere policy. "90% say WFA has improved their work-life balance, and 80% say it has improved productivity," the release said. It added that 62 per cent of respondents would consider changing jobs for a better Work From Anywhere policy. Nearly half, or 48 per cent, of the workers surveyed said they planned to extend a holiday or mini-break by working remotely in 2026, while 46 per cent said they were more likely to do so than last year. About 43 per cent said they had already worked remotely from a holiday destination without using annual leave. However, the workplace survey was conducted among 2,000 hybrid office workers in the UK and the US between July 6 and July 9, 2026, and therefore does not represent Indian workers specifically. Bangkok, Tokyo and Barcelona were followed by Porto and Vancouver in the global top five, while Budapest, Naples, Medellin, Lisbon and Seoul completed the top 10 work cation destinations for 2026. (ANI)
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