Mall Construction
Retail boom in India is going to result in mall construction of Rs 112 billion over the next five years (2005-10). Current explosion in investments in retail by Indian power houses will result in additional mall space of 110 mn sqft by 2010. Mall construction in the country is expected to grow at a frenetic pace in the five cites of Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. A report on real estate trends by Merrill Lynch said that the number of malls in these cities was expected to grow to about 250 by 2010 as against 40 now. In terms of total area, 12.40 million square feet (mn sqft) of mall space is currently available in these cities, the report said quoting a survey by Knight Frank India. By 2007, the mall space availability was estimated to increase to 55.70 mn sqft.
In the commercial space, business opportunity was led by the unprecedented outsourcing activity in the country. As the trend gathers pace commercial space requirement would expand to 75 mn sqft by 2008 from the present 8.5 mn sqft entirely driven by information technology or IT-enabled services. The boom in mall construction is also driven by organised retail industry. About 200 malls were already under construction in various parts of the country with a combined retail space of 25 mn sqft. The strong potential for the retail industry has prompted entrepreneurs to make big investments in malls. There is immense opportunity for foreign construction companies in this space.
