New Delhi: Indian retail real estate sector attracted private equity investment worth $1.2 billion during 2017-18 calendar years, double from the previous two years, according to property consultant Anarock.
The consultant attributed the sharp rise in private equity (PE) inflow to further liberalisation in FDI policies such as 51 pc FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 pc FDI in single-brand retail under the automatic route. From an investment of $600 million during 2015-2016 calendar years, private equity inflows in retail real estate jumped to over $1.2 billion between 2017 and 2018.
Of total $1.84 billion inflow in the last 4 years (2015-2018), tier II and tier III cities attracted nearly 48 pc funds ($880 million) against $960 million in tier 1 cities. Top favoured tier II and tier III cities included Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Indore and Mohali.
US-based funds like Blackstone and Goldman Sachs have invested more than $1 billion between 2015-2018, while UAE, Singapore, Canada and Netherlands based funds were also active. Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO – Anarock Capital says, “our report highlights the fact that unlike the commercial office sector, retail is to some extent geography-agnostic because its success depends on the spending power of its target audience. “
