COVID hits new mall supply in 2020; just five come up so far

Severely impacted by COVID-19, Indian cities in 2020 saw the addition of just five new malls spanning 2.75 mn sqft of area. Among the cities that added the new mall supply are Gururgam, Delhi, Lucknow and Bengaluru. The supply is far less than the previously predicted numbers.

Anuj Kejriwal, CEO & MD, ANAROCK Retail, said, “Before the COVID-19-catalysed lockdown in March, our research indicated that Indian cities were to see new supply of approx. 54 new malls in 2020 spread over nearly 22.2 mn sq. ft. area. Of this, the top seven cities were to see new supply of nearly 35 malls spread over approx. 14.6 mn 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.”

Presently, data indicates that 14 new malls spread over 5.9 mn sq. ft. area will get operational by 2021-end across Indian cities, and fit-outs are underway in at least 10 of them. Among the cities that will see the maximum new supply in 2021 are:

• Mumbai – new supply of at least six new malls in 2021, spanning over 1.65 mn sq. ft. area
• Bengaluru – at least three new malls spanning over 1.4 mn sq. ft area to get operational by 2021-end
• Lucknow – launch of two new malls spanning over 1.15 mn sq. ft. area.
• Hyderabad – one new mall covering more than 0.2 mn sq. ft. .
• Thiruvananthapuram – one new mall spread over 1.1 mn sq. ft.
• Rourkela – one new mall covering almost 0.35 mn sq. ft.