LuLu Group International, a leading multinational conglomerate, operates in hypermarket chains and retail companies. The company was founded in 2000 by M. A. Yusuff Ali in Kerala, India and is now headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, with USD 8 billion yearly revenue. The group’s business portfolio includes everything from operating hypermarkets to developing retail malls, producing and trading items, building food processing facilities, doing wholesale distribution, developing hospitality assets, and developing real estate. The multifaceted group operates in 23 different countries, which include 24 shopping centres and 233 Lulu Hypermarket locations throughout the GCC, Egypt, India, and the Far East.
Travel restrictions have been loosened; more people have had their vaccination shots, are more self-aware, and are anxious to get outside and enjoy life again. For LuLu Group, the Indian retail market is crucial. The population is young, and consumption and per capita income are rising. Because organised retail only accounts for 12% of the market, it is significantly underutilised and has tremendous room for growth. So, the international conglomerate moves forward with its plans of developing a dozen shopping centres. According to recent research, an improved recovery in business will cause rental income at malls to rise by 30% year over year in FY23.
The LuLu Group has five functioning shopping malls in India in Kochi, Thrissur, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, and Lucknow. These malls comprise approximately 3.7 million square feet of area up for lease and are an investment worth INR 7,000 crore. In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the group opened a sizable shopping centre with a built-up area of 2.2 million square feet and a leasable area of 1 million square feet last month. Over 300 foreign and domestic brands can be found at the mall, developed for an estimated investment of INR 2,000 crore.
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The LuLu Group is now building malls in Kerala, Calicut, Kottayam, Tirur, Perinthalmanna, and Palakkad. In terms of the future evolution of the mall business in the Indian retail market, the LuLu group plans to establish smaller malls, roughly 0.5 million square feet, in the key vicinity of Kerala. Both completely owned and leased versions of the properties will be available. In addition, it is renovating a Hyderabad shopping mall that will open in the early half of 2023. In Ahmedabad, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Noida, there are now six shopping malls planned.
Going vertically up is not something the company believes in. LuLu Group is aggressively hunting for land in Ahmedabad to build a one million square foot mall there. Understanding that such big land holdings are hard to come by in India, LuLu Group welcomes all models. They would like to purchase the land if it’s financially feasible. A similar strategy is also in the works for Chennai. The second phase of expanding the shopping malls business in India’s planned investment is currently being worked out and will be disclosed in due time.
For malls, superstores, food processing plants, and other allied companies, the LuLu Group has announced investments totalling over INR 19 000 crores in India. If financially feasible, the business can potentially consider buying land or forming a joint venture with the landlords to expand its activities. The tier-2 cities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh are under consideration by the Lulu Group.
