Bengaluru retail sees a U-shaped recovery

The retail sector in Bengaluru is now beginning to see green shoots of revival with a U-shaped recovery. While essential goods like food and grocery, followed by apparel, FMCD and electronics, furniture and home furnishings and QSR are seeing a V-shaped recovery, other segments like beauty, wellness and personal care and home essentials may take 2-3 more quarters for full recovery, said Anuj Kejriwal, CEO & MD Anarock Retail.

As per Economic Times, Bengaluru has been one of the most active retail markets in the country and is a major hub for retail fashion with most international and national brands making their way here.

In terms of organized retail, Karnataka presently has close to 50 operational malls across the top cities and Tier 2 and 3 cities, as per ANAROCK Research. Bengaluru alone has nearly 36 operational malls – the same number as that in entire MMR. Interestingly, tier 2 and 3 cities including Mysore and Hubli have also seen decent retail growth. Both cities currently have five operational malls each.

Going forward, data indicates that as many as six new malls spanning 2.5 mn sq. ft. area are likely to come up in Karnataka by the end of 2021. Five of these will be located in Bengaluru while one in Mysore.

Bengaluru has also attracted large private equity investment across the country due to the introduction of retail policy on 2016 by the