Bengaluru’s MG Road tops high street rankings, Hyderabad’s Somajiguda comes second

Khan Market commanded average rents of Rs 1,249 per sq ft per month, followed by Gurugram’s DLF Galleria at Rs 997 per sq ft.

Bengaluru’s MG Road tops the list of high streets in India, followed by Somajiguda in Hyderabad. Linking Road (Mumbai), and South Extension (Delhi) are among the top 10 high streets in the country, according to Knight Frank India’s flagship annual retail report, ‘Think India, Think Retail 2023 — High Street Real Estate Outlook,’ in association with Phygital Retail Convention, 2023.

With four of its markets making it to the top 10, Bengaluru was deemed to have the best high streets that provide a significantly better shopping experience, according to a survey conducted by global real estate consultancy Knight Frank across eight markets of India.

The study also found that modern retail (malls) occupies only  6 percent (5.7 mn sq ft ) of the lease-able shopping area of 92.9 mn sq ft on high streets.

In NCR, the lease-able area in high street shopping centres is 31.7 mn sq ft, of which modern trade occupies 1.4 mn sq ft. For Mumbai, the numbers are 16.1 mn sq ft and 0.7 mn sq ft, respectively. In Bengaluru, the lease-able shopping area on high streets is 15.2 mn sq ft, of which modern trade occupies 1 mn sq ft.

Khan Market commands the highest average rent

Some of the high streets captured in the survey are the country’s most expensive retail hubs. New Delhi’s Khan Market, Gurugram’s DLF Galleria, and Mumbai’s Linking Road and Turner Road are four high streets where retailers have to shell out hefty rents to maintain brand presence.

The average monthly rents to lease retail space on the high streets vary across the top eight cities. Khan Market commanded average rents of Rs 1,249 per sq ft per month, followed by Gurugram’s DLF Galleria at Rs 997 per sq ft, and Mumbai’s Linking Road at Rs 670 per sq ft per month, the study said.

This was cheaper than the monthly rent on the world’s most expensive high street, Paris’ Avenue des Champs-Elysees, that commands a monthly rental of  Rs 19,215 per sq ft.  Paris’ Rue Saint-Honore commands a rent of Rs 16,466 per sq ft per month, while New York’s Fifth Avenue commands a rent of Rs 14,457 per sq ft per month. At number 7 in the global ranking, Singapore’s Orchard Street commands a rent of Rs 2,923 per sq ft per month, per the study showed.

Top 10 high streets rate high on conveniences

The top 10 high streets are those that are convenient in terms of access, parking facilities, and have a varied assortment of retailers. The layout and master planning of the high street defines its visibility.

Inward-looking markets like Khan Market (Delhi) and DLF Galleria (Gurugram) scored very low, whereas markets aligned along the access road, like MG Road (Bengaluru), Somajiguda (Hyderabad), Linking Road (Mumbai), Anna Nagar (Chennai), Park Street and Camac Street (Kolkata) scored high. Ahmedabad and Pune do not house any of the top 10 high streets.

The survey was conducted across 30 high streets across the top eight cities of India, based on parameters that determine the quality of experience high streets provide to customers.

Ahmedabad’s SG Highway has the highest per capita spending among the 30 high streets surveyed.

“Retail is a highly competitive business and with the advent of malls, it is also closely related to the overall customer experience. Globally, cities are identified by their high streets, often one of the main attractions of the city, and the brands on these streets are a barometer of the city’s worth on the global platform. But as we evolve, customer experience becomes key and due to their traditional nature, high streets often fail to provide amenities that shopping centres do,” said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director at Knight Frank India.

“However, as cities in India are modernising, we see many high streets in the country being revived as facilities like access, parking, store visibility, etc., have improved. Our estimates say that the average per square metre revenues of high streets will be significantly higher than those of malls in FY23–24. Going forward, we expect high streets that provide a good retail experience to customers to see a revival, even as other retail formats continue to thrive,” he added.

Modern and traditional retail

According to the findings, NCR, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad are the top three markets with a high concentration of traditional retail. While Ahmedabad and Kolkata are yet to witness the foray and expansion of many large national and foreign retailers on its key high streets, the preponderance of non-traditional retail in NCR stems from the fact that both traditional and modern retail outlets have co-existed and flourished for many years now.