Malls stop mushrooming thanks to Covid-19

Bengaluru: Severely impacted by Covid-19, 2020 saw addition of only five new malls spanning 2.75 million sq. ft. area across the country. Among the cities that added new mall supply are Gurgaon, Delhi, Lucknow and Bengaluru.

The supply is far less than the previously predicted numbers. Anuj Kejriwal, CEO and MD, ANAROCK Retail says, "Before the Covid-19-catalysed lockdown in March, our research indicated that Indian cities were to see new supply of approximately 54 new malls in 2020 spread over nearly 22.2 million sq. ft. area. Of this, the top 7 cities were to see new supply of nearly 35 malls spread over approximately 14.6 million sq. ft. while Tier 2 & 3 cities were to see new supply of 19 new malls over 7.6 mn sq. ft."

"Covid-19 added enormous pressure to the already delicately-poised Indian retail sector. The anticipated new mall supply was severely hit this year and most of it will spill over to 2021 and beyond. New completions have been deferred and leasing activity has been delayed."

The completion of new malls will be by 2021. Presently, data says 14 new malls spread over 5.9 million sq. ft. area will get operational by 2021-end across Indian cities, and fit-outs are underway in at least 10 of them.