Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s retail leasing showed a steady demand in Q1 2026, as gross leasing totalled 3.1 million square feet for the top seven cities in the January-March period, a report showed on May 12.
Despite a 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) moderation, there was a marginal 1 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) uptick, indicative of continued resilience in the leasing momentum. The quarterly moderation in retail leasing is largely due to the absence of sizeable new mall supply of institutional grade quality following strong mall infusion of 2.5 million sq ft in Q4 2025, according to the JLL report.
Established international retailers demonstrated robust confidence in India’s consumption story. Well-known foreign brands recorded 48 per cent year-on-year leasing growth, supported by sustained expansion strategies capitalising on India’s aspirational middle class and resilient domestic consumption patterns.
“While Bengaluru and Chennai retailers pivot to established high street corridors, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad’s continued mall-centric activity underscores a critical insight: successful expansion today demands a multi-format approach balancing aspirational enclosed destinations with street-level accessibility,” said Rahul Arora, Head-Office Leasing and Retail Services, Senior Managing Director (Karnataka, Kerala), India, JLL.
With 46.1 million sq ft of institutional-grade pipeline through 2030 and demand consistently outpacing supply, “we are witnessing not just resilience, but the foundation for India’s next retail real estate expansion cycle driven by rising consumption, D2C physical migration, and retailer format sophistication, he mentioned.
