DLF plans giant malls; ties up with Tata

MUMBAI: Giving a big boost to its retail initiatives, India's largest builder DLF Limited has drawn up plans to set up country's largest mall with nearly 40 lakh sq ft lettable area and a chain of multiplexes in major cities.

It plans multiplexes at Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Ludhiana.

DLF, which is hitting the capital markets on Monday with the largest public offer of Rs 9,625 crores, has worked out an ambitious strategy to expand its retail business covering the entire spectrum of the sector.

It has already tied up with Trent, the retail business of the Tata Group, to partner across their intended retail formats, occupying a minimum of 150,000 sq ft feet in each mall. DLF also has an MoU with Metro Cash and Carry to identify suitable retail spaces in various locations across the country.

"The size of our malls is also increasing due to consumer demand for greater retail diversity and we believe that in the future, size will be an important determinant of the success of a mall," a DLF official said.

Slated to be India's largest mall, the Mall of India will come up at Gurgaon on a 32.87 acre land. It is designed by Jerde Partnership Inc, an international firm of architects.The under-construction Mall of India at Gurgaon is has a total lettable area of around 39 lakh square feet and a total land area of 32.87 acres.

On the cinema front, the company set up an entity called DT Cinemas in 1999 and runs two multiplexes with a total of six screens and 1,323 seats. It is planning several new multiplexes in and around New Delhi ranging from three screens to seven screens.

"As part of our growth strategy, we intend to mirror the growth exhibited in India's retail market in our multiplex cinema business by becoming an anchor client in most of our malls," the DLF official said.

DLF's retail space development plan has six main formats: stand-alone stores, shopping centres, prime downtown shopping districts, neigbourhood malls, destination malls and super-luxury malls. The business model includes both sale, ownership and leasing of properties, though there is a focus on retaining ownership and managing mall properties by the company.

The company has secured land for the development of approximately 44 million square feet of retail space, of which 10 million square feet is under construction currently. Among the completed and sold projects are the DLF City Centre and the DLF Mega mall.