Toxic air chokes high street sales in Delhi

People have started avoiding high streets such as Khan Market and Connaught Place amid severe air pollution in Delhi and neighbouring cities even as malls are busy improving indoor air quality to keep the festive mood going.

"For the last three days, the crowd has dipped and shops have also reported a decline in footfalls in comparison with last week. People are avoiding open areas due to pollution," said Sanjeev Mehra, president of Khan Market Traders Association.

Leading mall operators said they have not yet seen an impact on footfalls and that they have installed air purifiers and frequently change air-conditioning filters so that indoor air is much better.


Many restaurants and retailers are in a wait-and-watch mode as Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) has crossed 450, indicating very severe levels, and it's similar in neighbouring cities like Noida and Gurgaon.

"We are getting feelers that air quality in the Delhi-NCR region could worsen in the coming days, so we are anticipating that footfalls could be lower and there could be increase in deliveries," said Anjan Chatterjee, chairman of Speciality Restaurants that operates multiple casual and fine-dine brands and resto-bars including Mainland China, Episode One and Asia Kitchen.

In 'Wait and Watch' Mode
"Hence, we are doing groundwork to ensure that all internal resources for deliveries are in place."

He said the company is in "wait and watch" mode for now.

Yogeshwar Sharma, CEO and executive director of Delhi's Select Citywalk mall, said it's too early to assess any impact on footfalls. "We have to wait and see. Indoors, we have controlled air quality in any case," he said.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Friday announced a slew of measures, including work from home for Delhi government employees, closing of primary schools, and requesting private organisations to allow employees to work from home. The Delhi government has also decided to implement curbs recommended by Centre's air quality panel under the fourth and final stage of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which include ban on construction and entry of diesel vehicles in the city.

In Noida, the administration has asked schools to switch to online mode and stop outdoor activities.

Many commercial establishments and shopping mall operators, though, said there is no impact yet. "We haven't seen any impact on sale or footfall," said Pushpa Bector, executive director at DLF Retail that operates premium malls across Delhi-NCR. "People feel safer indoors as we have taken enough measures to improve air quality. We also display it across the mall to make the crowd aware," she said.

Rohit Aggarwal, director at Lite Bite Foods, which operates Punjab Grill, Artful Baker and YouMee restaurant chains, said "So far, we have not seen the impact of the pollution on footfalls and people are moving out. Since the maximum impact of the air pollution is early mornings, we have not noticed any significant impact during our peak hours. If the air quality situation worsens, then it could impact people moving out."

While people may be avoiding high streets, it seems malls continue to attract crowds across North India. "We have not seen any decline or negative impact on footfalls or sales at any of the centres in the North," said Prasad Rane, chief marketing officer at mall management solutions company Pioneer Property Zone Services Pvt Ltd. "In fact, this festive season, Diwali onwards until Christmas the trends seem very pragmatic and positive with growth on overall consumption across categories."

Ravinder Choudhary, assistant vice-president at Vegas Mall in Delhi's Dwarka, too, said the festive momentum is continuing. "We don't think there will be any impact of pollution. We have been holding events and the crowd continues to come. Even cinemas are doing good," he said.