Unitech to invest Rs 4,000 cr to develop 13 malls

Anticipating increase in demand for space following opening up of FDI further in retail sector, realty major Unitech will invest up to Rs 4,000 crore to develop 13 shopping malls over the next four years.

The company is also scouting land for another five malls in the metros and state capitals.

"We have nine malls under construction at present and we have bought land for another four malls. The total leasable area in these 13 malls will be 4 million sq ft," Unitech Head (Retail) Munish Baldev told PTI.

The nine malls that are under construction would be operational by 2013-end, he said, adding that the construction of the remaining four malls would start in third quarter of 2012.

Asked about investment, Baldev said: "The total project cost to develop 13 malls, comprising four million sq ft of area, will be between Rs 3,500 crore and Rs 4,000 crore."

The investment will be funded through internal accruals and debt, he added.

The company currently has three operational malls in Noida, Delhi and Gurgaon with a total area of 1.3 million sq ft since 2006.

The upcoming malls would be in Noida, Kochi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Dehradun, Mohali, Lucknow, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Baldev said all the stakeholders would benefit from the government's decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and increase of FDI limit in single-brand retail to 100%.

"We have always been bullish about the retail development space...The increased foreign investment in retail sector will create more jobs, improve supply chains and have a salubrious effect on retail prices," he added.