Consumers are not spending but 100 new malls to come up in next two years
Retail leasing is sluggish but private equity players continue to be funding urban shopping
Bengaluru: Consumers have remained tightfisted, but 100 new malls, spanning over 49 million sft, are scheduled to come up in India by the end of 2022.
The seven cities alone will see 69 new malls, and the remaining 31 will come up in tier 2 and 3 cities such as Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Surat and Nagpur, property consultant Anarock says.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is top of the list with 18 new malls coing up over 7.8 million sft followed by the Capital Region with 13, spread over 7.5 million sft. Hyderabad will see the launch of 12 new malls over more than four million sft.
Bengaluru and Chennai will see 10 and 9 new malls respectively, together accounting for 10.8 mn sq. ft. Pune and Kolkata are next with four and three respectively.
Region-wise, the west and south will see almost equal new supply. Western India will get 36 new malls, followed closely by south India with 35. The northern region will see a supply of 22 new malls and the east a much more modest seven.
"2019 was defined by significantly lower retail leasing. So this upcoming mall supply over the next three years testifies to the confidence of private equity investors in Indian retail's pent-up potential," MD & CEO of Anarock Retail, Anuj Kejriwal said.
"The retail sector drew PE inflows of over US$ 2.8 billion from 2015 to the end of 2019, of which 59 per cent was by foreign investors alone. Despite overall weak consumer spends, food & beverage outlets, family entertainment centres, cinemas and beauty/wellness service outlets continue to flourish and demand new retail spaces," the Anarock Retail chief said.
Among the tier 2 & 3 cities, Ahmedabad stands out with six new malls slated to come up by 2022-end.
"Both domestic and international brands are gung-ho about Ahmedabad. Besides scoring high on consumerism, the city has a growing young population of entrepreneurs, IT professionals and factory employees," Anarock Retail said.
Lucknow presents a similar picture and has plans for four new malls to be added by 2022-end. Surat and Nagpur will see new supply of two malls each spread over 0.7 mn sft and 0.85 mn sft area.