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CONSTRUCTION Lulu group, which has built five shopping malls in India with `7,000 mall development, manufacturing and trading of goods, food
BULLISH ON RETAIL SECTOR, LULU GROUP PLANS TO
DEVELOP MORE SHOPPING MALLS IN INDIA
processing plants, wholesale distribution, hospitality assets, and
real estate development.
Lulu group has operations spread over 23 countries.
crore investment, now plans to develop about a dozen more malls
as the UAE-based group sees huge growth opportunities in the
BRIGADE EYES `4,000 CRORE SALES REVENUE FROM
Indian retail space. The group has five operational malls in India
TWO PROJECTS IN CHENNAI, BENGALURU
at Kochi, Trivandrum, Thrissur, Bengaluru and Lucknow, comprising
about 3.7 million square feet of leasable area.
securing the firm’s South Indian presence.
Shibu Philips, Director-Shopping Malls of Lulu Group India, said
the Indian retail market is still “under-utilised” with the share of Agreements have been signed for the strategic acquisition,
Realty firm Brigade Group has acquired a land parcel in Chennai
organised retail being still low. from TVS group and partnered with landowners in Bengaluru to
“India is an extremely important market for Lulu. It is a young develop two real estate projects with a total revenue potential
population whose per capita income and consumption is of `4,000 crore in the next 4-5 years. They have signed definitive
increasing. It is a very under-utilised market because if you look agreements for prime land parcels in the cities.
at the organised retail, it is still only 12 per cent. So, I believe that The agreement to purchase the Mount Road property in Chennai
there is a lot of opportunity here if you have the right business from the TVS Group company has a potential 1 million square
model. Lulu is completely focused on India,” he said feet of a mixed-use development comprising office, retail and
In the first phase of shopping mall business in India, Philips said the residential. The joint development property in Bengaluru has a
Lulu group invested about `7,000 crore to develop five shopping development potential of over 2 million square feet of residential
malls, of which Bengaluru property is not owned by it. apartments. M R Jaishankar, CMD, Brigade Group said, “We are
Recently, the group launched a large shopping mall, comprising constantly on the lookout to identify strategically located land
2.2 million square feet of built-up area and one million square feet parcels that we can acquire and develop. The acquisition of both
of leasable area, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The mall, developed these properties in Chennai and Bengaluru are part of our growth
at an investment of about `2,000 crore, has over 300 international strategy as we continue to focus on South India with emphasis on
and national brands. About the future expansion of mall business Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.”
in India, Philips said “we are planning to have smaller malls of Brigade Group has a strong pipeline of upcoming projects of 10
around 0.5 million square feet in the major districts of Kerala.” million square feet with key projects in these cities.
He said the group is currently constructing malls in Kerala in
Calicut, Kottayam, Tirur, Perinthalmanna and Palakkad. Some of Positive trends
these properties will be fully owned and some will be on lease On Tuesday, the firm reported a consolidated net profit of `87.68
basis. That apart, it is refurbishing an existing mall in Hyderabad crore for the quarter ended June on better sales. It posted a net
which will be operational in early 2023. loss of `40.09 crore in the year-ago period.
Philips said as many as six shopping malls are currently in the Total income doubled to `920.28 crore in the first quarter of
pipeline in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bengaluru this fiscal from `391.52 crore in the corresponding period of the
and Noida. “We are actively looking at land in Ahmedabad for a previous year. “Demand continued to be robust, driven by strong
one million square feet mall there. And we have a similar plan in sales in the residential sector during the quarter leasing business
mind for Chennai,” he said. picking up and hotels have also started performing well. We
On planned investment for the second phase of expansion of expect the momentum to carry on,” said Jaishankar. “Enquiries
mall business in India, he said the same is being finalised and will have been high, with customer preference shifting towards larger
be announced in due course. In October last year, Lulu Group homes, to accommodate the hybrid work model that many
Chairman and Managing Director M A Yusuff Ali had told PTI that it companies are still offering their employees.”
sees tremendous growth potential in Indian retail segment, which On the operational front, the company’s sales bookings stood at
was among most affected sector between April 2020 and July 1.2 million square feet with a value of `814 crore during the quarter
2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. under review, a growth of 61 per cent in volume and 70 per cent
“Being a retail organisation with almost four decades of in value over Q1 FY22 performance.
experience, we have gone through ups and downs. But obviously, In commercial real estate, the net office space absorption in the
the worst is behind us. Things cannot go worse than that. In difficult June quarter was over 0.4 million square feet, nearly twice that
and challenging times, we have to make adjustments and fine- of the same period a year ago. The rental collections remained
tunes things, but now I can fairly say with the confidence, it is stable and demand for the next two quarters is promising with
only going forward. “Travel restrictions have eased out, people are active enquiries for over 1 million square feet across all properties,
vaccinated, they are more careful about themselves, people are the company reported. In retail, across its three malls, Brigade
eager to come out and enjoy and lead the life back. Enough of witnessed a 35 per cent growth on like-to-like retailer consumption
virtual and digital life. We are seeing tremendous growth potential,” sales pre-Covid. Multiplexes witnessed an average growth of 33
Ali had observed. per cent year-on-year for the April-June period.
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the diversified Lulu group has Present in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kochi,
an annual turnover worth $8 billion. The group’s business the firm undertakes development projects across , residences,
portfolio ranges from hypermarket operations to shopping offices, retail and hotels.

34 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|SEPTEMBER 2022