Lulu Group rolls out multiple investment plans in India

Lulu group, which has built five shopping malls in India worth over ₹7,000 crore, now plans to develop about a dozen more malls as the group sees huge growth opportunities in the Indian retail sector. Director-shopping malls in India, Shibu Philips said that the group has five operational malls at Kochi, Trivandrum, Thrissur, Bengaluru and Lucknow, comprising about 3.7 million square feet of leasable area; six shopping malls are currently in the pipeline in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bengaluru & Noida; and the company is looking for land in Ahmedabad for a one million square feet mall and has planned a similar project in Chennai.

Philips informed that the Indian retail market is still "under-utilised" with the share of organised retail being still low as such the country is an extremely important market for the group. Country’s young population’s per capita income and consumption is increasing by the day. Last month, the group launched a large shopping mall, comprising 2.2 million square feet of built-up area and one million square feet of leasable area, in Lucknow.

About future expansion of mall business in India, he said that the company is planning to have smaller malls of around 0.5 million square feet in the major districts of Kerala and it is currently constructing malls in Kerala in Calicut, Kottayam, Tirur, Perinthalmanna and Palakkad. Some of these properties will be fully owned and some will be on lease basis. That apart, it is refurbishing an existing mall in Hyderabad which will be operational in early 2023. On planned investment for the second phase of expansion of mall business in India, he said the company is finalizing a roadmap and will be announced shortly.