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

“Before the Covid-19-catalyzed lockdown in March, our research indicated that Indian cities were to see the new supply of approximately 54 new malls in 2020 spread over nearly 22.2 mn sft area. Of this, the top 7 cities were to see the new supply of nearly 35 malls spread over approximately 14.6 mn sft while tier-II and III cities were to see the new supply of 19 new malls over 7.6 mn sft,” Anuj Kejriwal, CEO & MD, Anarock Retail says.

“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.”

Mall Spill-over in 2021 and Beyond
Presently, Kejriwal elaborates, data indicates that 14 new malls spread over 5.9 mn sft 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 is:

• Mumbai: New supply of at least six new malls in 2021, spanning over 1.65 mn sft area
• Bengaluru: At least 3 new malls spanning over 1.4 mn sft area to get operational by 2021-end
• Lucknow: launch of 2 new malls spanning over 1.15 mn sft area to deploy in 2021
• Hyderabad: one new mall covering more than 0.2 mn sft area to be launched in 2021
• Thiruvananthapuram: One new mall spread over 1.1 mn sft area to be launched in 2021
• Rourkela: One new mall covering almost 0.35 mn sq. ft. likely to be launched in 2021