Four out of the top 10 high streets of India are located in Bengaluru, with Mahatma Gandhi Road ranking first in an overall list of 30 studied by property consultancy Knight Frank India for its flagship retail report released on Wednesday.
"Globally, cities are identified by their high streets, often one of the main attractions of the city, and the brands on these streets - a barometer of the city's worth on a global platform," said Shishir Baijal, chairman & managing director at Knight Frank India.
Fuelled by a 67 per cent share of modern retail area and a 34 per cent concentration of international origin brands, the garden city of India featured the maximum number of high streets in the list at seven. The ranking was evaluated on five parameters key to consumers — parking, public transport, average trading density, store visibility and spending quotient.
Contrary to popular perception, the top high streets are not ones demanding highest rents, the report argued.
The total high street retail stock stands at 13.2 million square feet spread across 4,875 retail stores in select top eight markets of the country. While 44% of high streets in these markets are occupied by modern retail stores, a majority continues to be dominated by mom and pop or kirana stores, largely fragmented with poor road access and presence of limited retailer categories.
"As cities in India are modernising, we see many high streets in the country reviving as facilities like access, parking, store visibility, etc have improved," noted Baijal.
Here are the top 10 high streets in India:
1. Bengaluru, MG Road
2. Hyderabad, Somajiguda
3. Mumbai, Linking Road
4. Delhi, South Extn Part I & II
5. Kolkata, Park Street, Camac Street
6. Chennai, Anna Nagar
7. Bengaluru, Commercial Street
8. Noida, Sector 18 Market
9. Bengaluru, Brigade Road
10. Bengaluru, Church Street