India plagues with Ghost Mall problem, causes THIS much whopping loss: Report

New Delhi: India is facing a strange problem called ‘Ghost Mall’ and it is prominent in Delhi NCR, followed by Pune and Hyderabad. As per Knight Frank India’s latest report ‘Think India, Think Retail 2022’, the problem has resulted a cumulative loss of over $524 million.

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Fifty-seven, or 21 %, of the 271 operational shopping malls in India are in a dilapidated state and need immediate rescue, international property consultant Knight Frank has said in a report.

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What is Ghost Mall?

According to the report, a mall which has over 40% vacant space is considered a Ghost mall.

These ghost malls are a result of a variety of factors, including a lack of due diligence, mall flaws including size and ownership patterns, flawed layouts with dark lanes, a failure to manage consumer walk-flow, poor occupancy, and a lack of anchor businesses.

As per the report, India has a total mall stock of 8.6 mn sq m (92.9 mn sq ft) spread across 271 operational malls in the top eight markets – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune. As on H1 2022, NCR contributes nearly one-third or 34% of India's total mall stock, which is the highest across the top 8 markets. Mumbai contributes 18% or the second highest mall stock to the top 8 markets while Bengaluru contributes 17%.