India retail leasing rises 20% to 3.9 million sq ft in H1 2026
Retail leasing grew 20% year-on-year in H1 2026, with fashion and apparel accounting for about 40% of take-up. Domestic retailers drove more than 70% of activity, while D2C brands contributed roughly 28%, according to CBRE.
What happened
CBRE · India retail leasing climbed 20% year-on-year to 3.9 million sq ft in H1 2026, led by fashion and apparel. Domestic retailers drove over 70% of activity,
Key facts
- Retail leasing rose 20% year-on-year to about 3.9 million sq ft in H1 2026
- Nearly 0.9 million sq ft of new retail supply became operational
- Delhi-NCR accounted for all new supply
- Fashion & Apparel represented about 40% of space take-up
- Food & Beverage accounted for about 14%
- Entertainment accounted for about 9%
- Jewellery and Homeware & Furnishings each accounted for about 7%
- Consumer Electronics accounted for about 6%
- Domestic retailers comprised more than 70% of leasing activity
- D2C brands contributed around 28% of leasing
- Fashion and apparel demand was nearly 69% in Chandigarh and Jaipur and about 65% in Kochi
Why this matters
With domestic retailers driving over 70% of leasing and D2C brands contributing 28%, strategic teams have a growing pipeline for partnerships, investments, and omnichannel expansion deals.
What to watch
- Quarterly same-store sales growth and discretionary-consumption indicators for apparel, beauty and footwear retailers.
- Prime-mall vacancy rates, effective rental growth, lease incentives and renewal spreads in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.
- New Grade-A mall completions and the amount of pre-leased retail supply scheduled for the next 12-24 months.
- Store-opening guidance from major Indian fashion, value retail, beauty, electronics and food-service chains.
- D2C funding conditions, offline-store announcements and evidence that physical expansion improves customer acquisition costs.
- Inflation, interest rates and urban employment trends that could affect discretionary household spending.
- Fashion, beauty, footwear and quick-service restaurant chains are likely to prioritize premium malls, transit-linked developments and high-footfall high streets.
- Domestic D2C brands will increasingly use physical stores for customer acquisition, product discovery and omnichannel fulfillment rather than standalone sales productivity.
- Mall owners are likely to rebalance tenant mixes toward experiential retail, food and beverage, entertainment and digitally native brands to sustain dwell time.
- Retailers may seek more flexible lease structures, including revenue-share arrangements and shorter initial commitments, especially for first stores in new cities.
- Developers are likely to accelerate retail components in mixed-use projects and pursue refurbishments of older malls to capture upgrading tenant demand.