UAE-based Lulu group plans to develop about a dozen more malls in India. The group has five operational malls in India at Kochi, Trivandrum, Thrissur, Bengaluru and Lucknow, worth 7,000 crores. Lulu Group Chairman and Managing Director M A Yusuff Ali hail from the Thrissur district of Kerala.
Shibu Philips, Director-Shopping Malls of Lulu Group India, said, “India is an important market for Lulu. It is a young population whose per capita income and consumption are increasing. It is a very under-utilised market because if you look at the organised retail, it is still only 12 per cent. So, I believe there are a lot of opportunities here if you have the right business model”.
The diversified Lulu group, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has an annual turnover worth USD 8 billion. Lulu group has operations spread over 23 countries. In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the group launched the latest Lulu Mall, comprising 2.2 million square feet of built-up area.
Philips further added that the Indian retail market is still “under-utilised”. He said, “We are planning to have smaller malls of around 0.5 million square feet in the major districts of Kerala.”
The group is now constructing malls in Calicut, Kottayam, Tirur, Perinthalmanna and Palakkad regions of Kerala. Lulu owns some of these properties. That apart, it is refurbishing an existing mall in Hyderabad, which will be operational in early 2023.
Philips said as many as six shopping malls are currently in the pipeline in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bengaluru and Noida. “We are looking at land in Ahmedabad for a one million square feet mall there. And we have a similar plan in mind for Chennai,” he said.
In October last year, M A Yusuff Ali had told that there is tremendous growth potential in the Indian retail segment.
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