DLF eyes 19-20% more retail rental revenue in FY24
Revenue from retail assets (malls) of DLF Ltd is expected to rise 19-20 per cent on year in FY24, driven by higher consumption, more footfall at malls, and higher lease rental charges.
“Lease rents have gone up 30 per cent above pre-Covid levels,” Pushpa Bector, Senior Executive Director and Business Head, DLF Retail, told businessline on the sidelines of the 19th edition of MAPIC India, a retail industry summit.
The company, which currently has around 4.5 million square feet (msf) of retail portfolio, has malls under construction, which will take its holding to 6 msf, while those in the planning stages will take it to 9.5 msf. The projects include an upcoming mall in Goa, a mall anchoring a residential project in Delhi, expanding DLF Promenade in Vasant Kunj, and the ambitious Mall of India in Gurugram, which is yet to be launched.
The retail assets of DLF come under its rental arm DLF Cyber City Developers, where it holds 66.67 per cent stake while the rest is with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).
Bector said leasing activity for its under-construction malls, which are slated to open in 2025, will start from October this year and reach completion by the end of 2024. “We have a tight leasing timeline,” she added.
The company is mainly looking at high-end luxury brands and its anchor tenants are usually gourmet supermarkets, rather than the usual hypermarket chains. “We’ve never been hugely positive about hypermarkets because a lot of real estate space goes away,” Bector said.
Post-Covid, with consumption coming back in a big way, malls are exploding. According to JLL India, the mall stock is expected to increase by around 43 per cent to reach 127 msf by 2027-end from the current level of 89 msf.