Retail realty in India: Evolution and potential

Markets such as Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing have already witnessed high growth rates in retail and formed an established retail market, while newer ones are consistently emerging.

February 07, 2014 / 17:02 IST

Jones Lang LaSalle India

Emerging Asia is well poised to become the engine of future economic growth with its favourable demography and a consistently rising income of people. The region offers a diverse landscape with different cities offering a retail opportunity of differing capacities.

Markets such as Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing have already witnessed high growth rates in retail and formed an established retail market, while newer ones are consistently emerging. For instance, within China, while the previously mentioned Chinese cities have a thriving and near-established retail market, cities such as Chengdu, Changsha, Hangzhou and Shenyang are destinations in transition.

The top seven cities in India - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata - are comparable to some of the Chinese cities that are in transition. We have also considered Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Hanoi (wherever possible) owing to its rising retail penetration. This paper tries to draw a comparison between these retail growth markets and evaluate the position of Indian cities within Emerging Asia.

The gap between the economic growth of Emerging Asia and the developed world of the US and the Euro area was much higher pre-crisis and it was consistently rising. Post crisis, this gap has narrowed substantially. However, the economy of Emerging Asia continues to grow faster and this positive gap with the developed world will progressively increase in the near-term as the world economy recovers. The positive gap in economic growth is helping incomes to rise faster in the Emerging Asian countries than in the developed world.