The latest edition of Malls of India, published by IMAGES Group, which was at the INDIA RETAIL FORUM on Wednesday here, also pointed out that in Mumbai, an additional 67 million square feet of mall space is projected to be added by the first quarter of 2011.

The Research study further reveals that 174 new properties are currently in various stages of planning, construction and leasing across the country’s metros, plus tier I, II and III locations.  Currently, there are about 172 large and small malls open in India offering just over 52 million square of space for retail, entertainment and F&B formats, said the Report.  North and South  India lead in terms of percentage growth of mall count and square foot space, says the report, which also presents extensive details of operational malls and developments currently in various stages of planning, constructing and leasing.  The number of operational malls in North zone will increase from the present 79 in September 2009 to 150 by Q1, 2011. Thus, the percentage increase in this zone in number of malls will be 49 per cent by 2011.

Within the South zone, Bangalore and Chennai are listed as the most prolific cities, in terms of square feet mall space, with 44 per cent and 32 per cent of the total 7.2 million square feet existing mall space, respectively.According to the Image F&R projection, the number of operational malls in the South zone will increase from 21 operational malls in September 2009 to 72 by Q1, 2011.The highlight of the development in South is that the total existing mall space of 7.2 million square feet is projected to be more than doubling to touch 18.43 million square feet by 2011.

In the West, Mumbai has been dominating mall development activity and continues to do so, accounting for almost 66 per cent of the total 56 existing shopping malls.  The report adds that the number of operational malls in West zone will increase from the present 56 as on September 09 to 87 by Q1, 2011.

In Eastern region  Kolkata will dominate the scenario. Out of 16 operational malls in East zone, Kolkata is dominating with 10 quality retail spaces, and will continue to dominate future mall developments, accounting for over 51 per cent of the 6.14 million square feet additional mall space. The number of operational malls will be doubling from the present strength of 16 as on September 2009 to to 37 by Q1, 2011.