India to get 65 mn sft of new mall space by 2022

New Delhi: It's raining malls in India! Despite the onslaught of the e-commerce business across the country, malls are still serious business. According to Anarock's latest retail report TCCx: Redefining the Future of Retail Malls released at the CII North Retail Conclave on Friday in New Delhi, the sector is riding high on the phenomenal rise of consumerism and renewed interest by institutional investors.

According to the report: Indian mall developers are looking to add over 65 mn sq. ft of new mall supply by 2022-end across the country. Of this total new supply, the top 7 cities comprise 72 per cent share and the remaining 28 per cent (18.2 mn sq. ft.) will come up in Tier 2 & 3 cities. MMR, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru together lead with new supply aggregating to nearly 34 mn sq. ft in these cities.

Amidst this rising new mall supply, developers are gradually on-boarding various new-age technologies. The report further stresses on the need for mall developers to imbibe PropTech in the leasing of mall spaces for a potentially faster, more insightful transaction process. PropTech cannot be limited to use in mall designing and operations alone.

Anuj Kejriwal, MD & CEO, Anarock Retail, says: "Of the 65 mn sq. ft of new mall supply hitting the Indian market by 2022-end, nearly two-thirds (40 mn sq. ft) will deploy by 2020-end itself - and not just in the metros".

This new supply is also driven by the increasing interest of institutional investors - including PE players - who invested almost $1.9 bn into Indian retail between 2015 and Q1 2019. In fact, over 60 per cent of this investment corpus was infused in the last two years (2017 and 2018) alone, making these the best years for the retail sector in recent times.

"Notwithstanding the decline in deal activity in the second half of 2018 following the NBFC-induced liquidity crisis, the retail segment attracted investments of almost $115 million in just the first quarter of 2019," he added.

The report also maintains that REITs can be a viable tool for mall developers to raise funds, but this fund-raising instrument still needs to mature sufficiently. Also, the retail REIT structure and performance may not be directly comparable with the commercial office sector. The report also examines how PropTech has disrupted the retail sector in India; specifically in mall designing or creating avenues for enhancing customer experience.

From basic AutoCAD drawings, architects and designers have moved to software such as 'Revit' and 'Archi Cad' to enhance overall mall designs, to ensure a superior customer experience.

Architects and designers use these tools to visualize and plan the placement of stores within the mall to increase visibility. However, PropTech must find implementation in mall leasing, as well. "Currently, the use of technology in the retail sector is largely limited to designing or creating customer experiences," says Anuj Kejriwal.

Other report highlights region-wise - new mall supply in West India tops out with 25 mn sft, followed by South India - 21.7 mn sft, North India - 11.9 mn sft and East India - 6.4 mn sft. Besides metros, prominent Tier 2 & 3 cities for retail growth include Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Baroda, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Cuttack, Dehradun, Goa, Guwahati, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Nagpur, Mysore, Surat, Rourkela, and Trivandrum.

The Indian retail industry has moved from long-term leasing to short-term leasing tenures (3-5 years) to enable constant updating of the brand mix within the mall. Globally, the standard lease term is still above 5 years. The retail sector will witness new trends and methods of fund-raising, including increased platform-level deals and Retail REITs, the report added.