Lulu Group is planning to launch as many as 12 malls across India over the next three years, spread over a total of around 5 million sq ft of development, its director has said. The UAE-based group, which is supposed to invest over Rs 19,000 crore to develop malls, hypermarkets, food processing centres and related businesses, will establish malls in Noida, Gurugram, Chennai and Bengaluru as per a report.
“We are planning to set up 12 malls in the next three years. These would be in Calicut, Tirur, Perinthalmanna, Kottayam, Palakkad in Kerala and Noida, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Ahmedabad (in Uttar Pradesh), Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai,” Shibu Philips, director, shopping malls, Lulu Group India, was quoted as saying Moneycontrol.
Lulu Group has at present five operational malls in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Bengaluru and Lucknow.
“At the end of three years, of the six malls currently leasable, the total leasable area is 3 million sq ft. In the future, when we open all our 12 malls—5 in Kerala (where) we will add another 2 million sq ft leasable area (all half a million sq ft projects), 2 million sq ft in Ahmedabad and a million in Chennai, half million in Hyderabad totalling to 4.5 million sq ft and if Pragyaraj also comes along we would have added a total of around 5 million sq ft retail development in the next four years,” Philips told Moneycontrol.
He further said that Uttar Pradesh is an important market for Lulu Group. “We are in the process of procuring land in Prayagraj and Varanasi, after which we may look at Kanpur. What format we consider for these markets (hypermarket or shopping malls model) will be a decision that the company board will take after considering the opportunities and potential in the market. This is still on the drawing board stage,” he said.
“We have already invested Rs 2,000 crore on the Lucknow property. We are also coming up with a food processing centre in the state for which Rs 500 crore has already been earmarked. Another Rs 2,000 crore are planned for expansion in Uttar Pradesh with respect to hypermarkets and malls,” Philips added.
About the mall in Noida, the Lulu Group director said that the retail property is still in the planning stage, and the location will be decided based on the market opportunities. “We are currently studying the market. If it is a full-fledged mall, it should be ready within three years and if it is a hypermarket, it should happen in a year’s time,” he said.
In Gurugram, Lulu Group has occupied space in a mall for a hypermarket. “This is under construction. This should be operational in about a year-and-a-half,” he said.
Bengaluru is another area of focus. “We are planning four more hypermarkets in Bengaluru and one mini mall. The hypermarkets are already in the fit-out stage and will be operational in the next two quarters while for our other centres in the city, we are in an advanced stage of discussions,” said Philips. Apart from this, the group is also scouting for lands in Chennai.
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