India has 13.3 million square feet of ‘ghost shopping infrastructure’ across 29 cities that led to a loss of $798 million in CY2023, reports Knight Frank India in a wide ranging survey.
Categorising “low performing retail assets” as ghost retail, the real-estate firm estimated a 59% YoY rise in such real estate since 2022 in the “prime markets” while their numbers rose to 64 by the end of 2023 from 57 in 2022.
As many as 16 shopping centres were permanently shuttered in these cities in 2023 and their total reduced to 263, the firm said in a study titled ‘Think India Think Retail 2024’, released on Tuesday.
Sharpest rise in Kolkata
National Capital Region (NCR) accounted for the highest Ghost Shopping Centre stock of 5.3 mn sq. ft (up 58% YoY), followed by Mumbai with 2.1 mn sq. ft (up 86% YoY) and Bengaluru with 2 mn sq. ft (rise of 46% YoY). Hyderabad is the only city to record a decline in the Ghost Shopping Centre stock by 19% YoY to 0.9 mn sq. ft.
The sharpest rise in Ghost Shopping Centres was recorded in Kolkata at 237%, or more than threefold, albeit on a lower base, Knight Frank said.
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