2018 turned out to be an outstanding year for the Indian

Shopping Mall Industry. Not only did the year witness the

restructuring of malls in India as FECs but it was also the

year when malls took to technology seriously, adopting

new facilities and upgrading existing ones – all towards

consumer convenience.

Even as the overall economy struggled, and the retail

industry was rife with rumours of ‘the shopping mall

is dead’, stakeholders understood the importance of

developing multichannel retailing and adopted the practice

with vigour, leaving behind traditional methods. This led

to a remarkable shift in the Indian Shopping Mall Industry.

With fundamental growth drivers of the retail sector staying

intact – rising disposable income, rapid urbanization,

increasing purchasing power – global investors and

shopping mall developers remain bullish on the sector.

Bigger malls –both in terms of space and services – were

launched, while older malls decided to reinvent themselves.

The industry was drawn towards a new consumer set

– Tier II cities. A large number of malls and investors

turned focus on the South and East of India. Cities

including Bhubaneswar, Siliguri, Rourkela, Ranchi, Patna,

Thane, Pune, Ludhiana, Kochi and Nagpur witnessed an

incline in retail and malls in their region. Saturation of the

metros due to limited space availability, mounting rental

values and escalating infrastructure issues fuelled retail

growth in smaller cities like Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar,

Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Lucknow, to name just a few.

The December 2018-January 2019 year-ender edition of

Shopping Centre News, took an in-depth look at the Indian

retail real estate sector, including a deep dive into what

malls did right in 2018 and how they are gearing up for

2019. Heads of leading Indian malls outline all experiences

and innovations they have been and will be working on in

2019 to lure the consumer, keep him spending and turn

him loyal.

The edition also brings to the reader, a forecast of the Retail

Real Estate Industry in 2019, with experts discussing the

factors and aspects needed to revive and run the industry

smoothly.

As always, we hope you 􀍤 nd this edition informed and

bene􀍤 cial. We wish you a very ‘Happy New Year’ and

look forward to renewing our relationship with you in the

coming year.