Inorbit to invest Rs 1400 crore on 8 malls

Moving away from the urban lifestyle centre format, Inorbit was looking at developing open malls in the value retail format as well. Of the eight malls in progress, two would be in the value retailing format and would be at Pocharam near Hyderabad and at Baroda.

This new Inorbit brand would be called "The Village', said Kishore Bhatija, chief executive officer of Inorbit. The Hyderabad mall would open by March 2009.

In keeping with the name, these would be located away from city centres and would offer brands at affordable prices or at discounted rates.

Shoppers' Stop, another Raheja group company, was an unlikely anchor tenant for 'The Village' as it catered to the more upwardly mobile city population, Bhatija admitted.

He said getting land at a suitable price was a challenge for mall developers and these away-from-city malls could provide a cost advantage in that way.

Inorbit currently had a mall at Malad in Mumbai with retail built-up space of around 600,000 square feet. It would add another 4 million square feet of retail space by 2010 at Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. Its mall at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, was expected to open by October.