Developers are acquiring land parcels in strategic locations in many emerging cities to construct retail projects, the report said.

Thirty per cent of institutionally-held retail assets are located across 12 tier-II and -III Indian cities, as developers and institutional investors capitalise on the lower land costs and growing aspirations of consumers in smaller cities, it noted.

These cities are Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Udaipur, and Mohali in the north; Mysuru and Mangalore in the south; Ahmedabad, Surat, Indore, and Nagpur in the west; and Bhubaneswar in the east.

The estimated "expansion is driven by growing consumer demand, availability of land, and a lack of quality retail developments in these markets until a few years ago," it said.

North Indian tier-II and -III cities will account for 44 per cent of the total upcoming supply, while southern India will contribute 30 per cent, with cities like Coimbatore, Mallapuram, Thrissur, and Trivandrum leading the supply. The eastern region will see a supply of 4.5 msf, primarily led by Guwahati.

In western India, major developers are coming up with large-scale, high-quality retail projects in cities like Surat, Ahmedabad and Goa.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)