India is dealing with a strange issue known as "Ghost Mall," which is prevalent in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Pune, and Hyderabad. According to the most recent report from Knight Frank India, "Think India, Think Retail 2022," the issue has caused a total loss of more than $524 million.
What are Ghost malls?
Ghost malls refers to a mall which has more than 40% vacant space. These ghost malls are a result of a number of things, such as a lack of due diligence, flaws in the mall, such as its size and ownership patterns, flawed layouts with dark lanes, an inability to control consumer walk-flow, low occupancy, and a lack of anchor stores.
Knight Frank, international property consultant has said in a report that 21% of the operational shopping malls in India are in a crumbling condition and require immediate assistance.
As per the report, India has a total mall stock of 8.6 mn sq m (92.9 mn sq ft) spread across 271 operational malls in the top eight markets – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune. As on H1 2022, NCR contributes nearly one-third or 34% of India's total mall stock, which is the highest across the top 8 markets. Mumbai contributes 18% or the second highest mall stock to the top 8 markets while Bengaluru contributes 17%.
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