In India the early 1990s experienced the shopping malls expanding their footprint with well designed, built on international formats of retailing and integrated with entertainment and restaurants to provide a complete family experience. Shopping centers till then were designed and built to house several shops in a single facility.
With the economy giving indications of recovery and real estate companies putting up a brave face, the question as to whether this is the right time to buy property has yet again been raking up. If the industry figure is to be believed, it seems many of the prospective home buyers who had put their plans on shelf due to the threat of job loss & inability to pay the EMIS borne out of recession are back in the property hunt.
With the return of confidence in the sector, Indian real estate players are now once again looking at private equity funding. That said, the industry still depends heavily on bank debt, NBFC funding and end-user advances. This is because bank debt is a cheaper option, and also because it offers flexible tenures.
Indian retail today stands at an inflexion point where the sector is poised to take a giant leap. Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest research offering ‘India Retail – Opportunities in a Revolution’ explores the potential in the Indian retail real estate in the coming years.