The Hindu Business Line : `74 pc of mall space to come up in western, northern parts'

ABOUT 74 per cent of the mall space that is being developed will come up in the western and northern parts of the country. Only 26 per cent of the malls will be developed in the South and East, according to a study done by ITCOT Ltd (earlier known as Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation of Tamilnadu Ltd).

By 2007, about 750 lakh sq. ft. would be required in India. Most of the malls are at present being developed in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. A smaller number will come up in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow, Indore, Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

Mr V. Sridharan, Principal Vice-President, ITCOT, said the consultancy had organised a seminar to highlight opportunities in developing mega malls for real estate builders, developers and other stakeholders. The study said a notable trend was the development of integrated retail-cum-entertainment centres, which ensure higher footfalls. An increasing number of retailers has started looking for locations in malls as against stand-alone stores, he said.

Though many malls have come up, future development would focus on providing leisure activities as well. Today, there is an increase in the number of multiplexes, which are integrated with malls along with food courts and gaming parlours.

Mr Sridharan said the Indian retail business has around 12 million retail outlets with a sales turnover of Rs 13 lakh crore, which is the highest in the world.

The share of organised retailing is 3-4 per cent while in the US it is as high as 80 per cent.

The study says organised retailing in India has the potential to create demand for 25,000 new retail formats by 2010. Highly developed retail formats such as mega malls in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai have made these countries shopping and tourism destinations, he said.

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