Future Group has announced that they are working on a new and unique model for malls at ISCF 2011. Sunil Biyani, director, Future Group, while speaking at the session on ‘Way Forward for Shopping Centres in India’ at India Shopping Centre Forum 2011, said, “We are working on a model for shopping centres which will be profitable to all involved parties – land owners, mall owners, developers and retailers. After a period, may be 10 years, the land owner will get back the land to further innovate, renovate or redevelop. We are in the conceptualisation phase and will be testing the concept in the next 12 to 15 months in three cities – Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The size of the malls will range between 2,50,000 sq.ft and 4,50,000 sq.ft. Our aim is to reduce operational costs and make it profitable.”
“Upon the success of the concept, the model will be further implemented in other cities. We will try to limit the common area maintenance costs to Rs.7 sq.ft,” he further added.
Also at the occasion, the latest edition of ‘Malls of India’ was unveiled in the presence of Rama Bijapurkar, strategic marketing consultant, Sunil Biyani, director, Future Group, Kishore Bhatija, MD, Inorbit, Anuj Puri, chairman & country head, JLL (India), and S Raghunandhan, chairman, SCAI & CEO Retail, Prestige Group.
Amitabh Taneja, chief convener, India Shopping Centre Forum and founding director, Shopping Center Association of India, said, “The need for reliable data cannot be over emphasised in taking sound decisions. The aim of ‘Malls of India’, as always, is to provide a realistic picture of the existing and expected retail infrastructure in the country to not only help retailers in the expansion plans but also to guide the developers in making the right moves in terms of choosing the potential location to build.”
The report suggests an estimated 200 malls will be added to the existing 200 plus shopping centers currently operational across the country by 2014. This will add another 150 plus million square feet of build up area and will achieve the total estimated GLA (gross leasable area) of more than 140 million square feet by the same year.
– IndiaRetailing Bureau
