A clutch of shopping malls are in the offing in India with UAE-based Lulu Group deciding to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years, mainly for setting up shopping centres.
The Lulu Group runs a retail chain of over 120 hypermarkets in the Middle East. Promoted by Indian businessman Yusuff Ali M A, the Group has decided to construct mega shopping complexes in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.A clutch of shopping malls are in the offing in India with UAE-based Lulu Group deciding to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years, mainly#
"We are planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore in India over the next four years," said Ali, who is also Managing Director of the Group which has operations in over 30 countries. The Lulu Group has an annual turnover of $5.5 billion globally.
The Lulu Group boss he decided to invest Indian because of the government's decision to consider non-repatriable investments by NRIs as domestic investment. Ali said the business environment in India has improved significantly with the removal of many restrictions to facilitate investment. He said the decision will help India get investment from the NRI community.
Ali, who hails from Kerala, also said his company has decided to open 12 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia at an investment of Rs 2,700 crore in the next few years. The Lulu group currently owns 14 hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia.
The Lulu Group has major businesses in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Yemen. It currently has 124 shopping malls. Lulu hypermarkets and department stores have a 32 per cent share of the retail market in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India