Despite tough competition from other malls and high-street retail, only four malls closed down while one got converted into office space, states, JLL Report.
“With nearly a hundred malls in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), it has become the default mall capital of India. The best-performing malls in the region enjoy a low average vacancy of around 10%.” says, Pankaj Renjhen, Managing Director – Retail Services, JLL India.
No other city comes close to the number of operational malls that are found in Delhi-NCR. There are around 255 operational malls in top 7 cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. In Delhi NCR, there are around 95 operational malls out of which 12 malls are successful. Among all the above cities, Delhi-NCR is currently best placed for hosting successful, large-sized malls.
Today, Delhi-NCR has different sizes of malls suiting the needs of different catchment bases. Many areas in the secondary submarkets have transitioned to adopt new-format retail destinations in the last three to four years, while the change in the Prime City submarket took a longer duration, as it was the point of inception. It is also evident that the city of Delhi has better potential in terms of having well-performing large-sized malls.
The success rate of these malls varies, usually depending on factors like design and layout, the mall’s brand positioning, location and how well they cater to the needs of their target segments. Also, whether or not they have been able to evolve into family destinations rather than just remaining shopping centres plays a big role.
Locations For Future Mall Supply
Any upcoming commercial and/or residential area in NCR will work best for any future mall supply in the region. For example, Noida and Greater Noida are areas that have no malls as yet, but are upcoming commercial and residential areas. Golf Course Extension road in Gurgaon, Dwarka Expressway and New Gurgaon sector (beyond the second toll plaza on the NH-8) are some of the other locations which will work best for any future malls in NCR.
| Locations | Gross Rent per month/sq ft |
| Overall | 131 |
| Prime South | 247 |
| Prime Others | 115 |
| Suburban | 112 |
A Decade of Transition
The city of Delhi always had a vibrant high street culture. However, times are changing. The evolving preferences, higher disposable incomes and exposure to more foreign travel has caused the region’s growing middle class to aspire for a more wholesome and complete shopping experience.
The first mall off the blocks was Ansal Plaza in South Delhi, which became operational in 2000. It housed regular shops and restaurants against the backdrop of serene, green and open surroundings. The success of Ansal Plaza was followed by a spurt of mall developments in the next decade across Delhi NCR.
With the main city of Delhi expanding to include the suburbs, there was immense potential for creating organised shopping developments that can cater to the different income levels of families living in this urban agglomeration. South Delhi, home to the urban and nouveau riche, was the first retailers’ destination, so developers naturally also followed suit by looking at creating organised shopping formats here.
