Mr Cyrus Engineer, Head – Sales & Marketing, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL)
Says Cyrus Engineer, Head – Sales & Marketing, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL) in an interview with Lovina Kinny.
There has been 360 degree change in the mall culture in India over the last few years…
Currently, Indian retail is in the process of catharsis i.e. what was available yesterday is changing today. India is one of the fastest growing retail industries in the world. While the countries in the western world have taken around 30-40 years to go through the entire motion of evolution, India’s retail market has grown in a decade. Clearly, the Indian consumer today is more savvy and informed and hence looking at larger centers or bigger malls which serves dual purposes of shopping and recreation. There is absence of social infrastructure in the country and mall by default becomes the social infrastructure fabric for people during weekends. As a result malls have to be larger offering, food and dining, recreation, entertainment and shopping – all under one roof. And that is currently our strategy as well.
How do you see the scope of retail industry in India?
Retail as an asset class is different. Developers need to have a patient mindset and appreciation of how the retail industry works. Mall is a living space therefore developers and retailers need to work in partnership and create constant excitement to attract customers. Customers today are very perceptive and demand interesting schemes and offers.
Further there are only few organized players in retail real estate space. Given the fact that land is expensive, not too many developers are looking at increasing their footprint across the country. Retail in India is at an infancy stage. This can be elucidated from the cities like Pune and Gurgaon wherein as soon as one mall becomes successful the other developers build up another mall across the street. As a result both of them suffer. India lacks proper urban planning mandate, compared to the regulations in western countries which mandates number of malls for every suburb.
What are your views on retail industry, going forward? What are TRIL’s future plans?
We won’t see much supply coming up this year as the developers have completed their projects and now focusing on operational aspect. Developers will follow wait and watch approach. Further, developers and investors are looking for opening up of foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail however the Arvind Kejriwal-ruled Delhi government’s decision to withdraw FDI in multi-brand retail has sent wrong signals to the investors. We need to create a level playing field for all operators – domestic or international and ensure customer has the right to make his choice. We are still far away from reaching a level of maturity.
Our focus is on mixed use development – retail, commercial and part residential – a composite offering for the customers. Our next two projects would be based in Yeshwantpur in Bangalore and Gurgaon and our
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