Malls, brands at loggerheads over rent hikes

Tension has built up between brands and malls across India with leading malls planning to
increase rentals every year, putting them at loggerheads with retailers who are negotiating to
retain the current system of rental hikes every three years.
While discussions have started, industry insiders said large retailers are opposing the move
given the number of stores they operate. Malls typically sign nine year agreements with the
retailers with a rental hike of 15% every three year. But by increasing the rent 5% each year,
retailers will have to shell out about 17% in lease cost in three years.
“It does not make any sense because we sign our properties for long term which is generally 12-
15 years. An annual escalation in rent will not be viable and we would want to not go ahead with
such short term demands,” said a chief executive officer at a departmental store chain.
Rajendra Kalkar, president-west at Phoenix Mills, which operates more than half a dozen malls
in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, and in some tier-2 cities said that rent hikes are as per the
original agreed terms of the agreement. But in the new agreements, whether to go for an annual
hike is being negotiated on a case to case basis.
Another retailer, asking not to be named, said, brands invest a lot in fit outs and annual rental
hike will make the business unviable.
“A brand has to manage so many stores that annual hike will lead to a chaotic situation where
every month brands will have to keep rental hike in mind,” said the retailer.
Sources said that other malls such as DLF, Nexus and Oberoi, Select City Walk, Vegas are also
considering the same.
“We have started something like staggered rental so that we can hike the rental every year.
However, in the first year. we don’t put much pressure because the brand is trying to settle in.
But once they start doing well, we push for a rental hike,” said the director of a leading mall,
requesting anonymity.
Single brand retailers feel that demand is strong and they may be able to absorb rent inflation, if
at all it goes through.
Mall developers said that they will push for a 20% rental hike in three years given the inflation
and cost of raw materials.
“Cost of everything has gone up and we will have to put it in fresh condition to sustain. Retailers
are doing good and they should not be hesitant in absorbing the hike,” said another mall
developer.