This Diwali may not bring cheer to shopping malls in Delhi-NCR with footfalls expected to decline 55.58 per cent, a new survey has said.
“Economic slowdown, online shopping, high interest rate, inflation of consumer good items, and steep drop in shoppers have hit the malls which are already suffering from large vacant spaces,” according to a survey by industry body Assocham.
This festival season online shopping may cross the ₹55,000-crore mark, resulting in the halving of footfalls in malls in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, it added.
About 120-150 malls were launched in the past two years but close to 65-70 per cent of the spaces in many of the malls still remain empty, the study said.
In the nine major cities, more than 59 per cent of the total mall space remains vacant. Delhi-NCR tops the list with 68.5 per cent, followed by Mumbai at 65 per cent, Ahmedabad at 61 per cent and Chennai at 60 per cent. According to the survey, several developers have already started giving a rent-free period of up to six months for big brands to lure retailers.
The industry chamber’s research team interacted with about 720 leasing managers, representatives of malls’ management, strategist, marketers and supervisors in nine top cities for the survey.