• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Somasroy Chakraborty

Kolkata, Oct.8 The clash of interest between real estate developers and retailers has led to failure of most of the retail malls in India. According to industry players, experts and analysts the sharp rise in real estate prices across the country has compelled mall developers to charge high rentals. However, unplanned development of malls, in most cases, has failed to attract “enough business” for the retailers, putting their margins under pressure.

“There is definitely a clash of interest between mall developers and retailers. It’s a big problem in India as barring a few, most developers are charging high rentals without really creating enough business opportunity for the retailers. This is hampering the success of the malls,” Mr Kishore Biyani, Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, told Business Line on the sidelines of a panel discussion on Indian retail industry organised by BBC World.

According to Mr Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja Realty Development Ltd, “retail margins are not as high as they were. Besides, real estate prices are also rising. This can hamper the success of the malls unless developers and retailers plan their projects well.”

“The retail boom is here to stay. This is a short-term phenomenon as malls, which are not successful will eventually be closed down. Only the successful malls will survive in the long-run,” said Mr Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-Chairman of RPG Enterprises.

Mr Rahul Saraf, Managing Director of Forum Projects Private Ltd, a Kolkata based mall developer, feels that the developers should go through the learning curve before getting into mall development business. “Many developers are not going through the learning curve and developing malls to encash the retail boom in India.”

More Stories on : Retailing | Real Estate & Construction

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Sony bets on LCD TVs to drive festive sales

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line