Luxury malls coming to India

Consumers are all set to get a taste of the good life, with luxury malls coming to India.

 

Escada, Alfred Dun Hill, Hermes and 200 other global luxury brands are waiting to enter the Indian market. But high cost rentals and lack of retail space has meant delays. The Gitanjali Group may be the answer to their prayers. This listed company has announced an initial investment of over Rs 100 cr towards luxury retailing.

 

In fact, Gitanjali has set up two separate entities, Luxury Connexions which will facilitate the entry of global brands and Luxury Malls that will provide exclusive retail space to domestic and global high-end, luxury brands.

 

Its first luxury mall, spread over 45,000 sq feet, will come up in Hyderabad by this year end, followed by Delhi and Mumbai. Gitanjali is currently looking for real estate properties in both cities.

 

Shashank Pathak, VP - Luxury Malls, Gitanjali, says, "We may be acquiring or be leasing it, 70% of it will be marketed to other brands, that's where our revenue will come from."

 

Apart from being a one-stop shop of global luxury brands, these malls will also have a digital theatre and premium convention centers. The Luxury market in India is growing at over 25% and is likely to touch Rs 5000 cr by 2010. No wonder then, that apart from Gitanjali Group, other players like DLF and Shoppers Stop are also looking to bite into the luxury space.