Lulu Group to invest Rs 3,000 crore to set up Ahmedabad shopping mall

UAE-based billionaire Yussuf Ali's Lulu Group is foraying into Gujarat to develop a large shopping mall -- possibly India's biggest -- at Ahmedabad with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore.

The company is in advance stage of discussion to acquire land and construction of the shopping mall will start early next year, said Lulu Group Director of Marketing and Communications V Nandakumar.

In August this year, Lulu group, which has built five shopping malls in India with Rs 7,000 crore investment, had announced plans to develop about a dozen more malls as it sees huge growth opportunities in the Indian retail space.

The group has five operational malls in India at Kochi, Trivandrum, Thrissur, Bengaluru and Lucknow, comprising about 3.7 million square feet of leasable area.

"Discussions to acquire the land to construct this project are in the final stages and the foundation stone of this mega shopping mall will be laid early next year," he told PTI.

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The total area in Ahmedabad mall is planned at around 3 million square feet.

The company plans to have 300 national and international brands, a 3,000-people capacity food court with multi-cuisine restaurants, 15-screen multiplex cinemas with Imax and India’s biggest children's amusement centre and many other attractions.

The investment by Lulu Group International in the state follows an MoU signed by with the Government of Gujarat.

Commenting on the development Lulu Group’s Director of Indian Operations Ananth Ram said, the Ahmedabad mall will be India’s "biggest shopping mall" with the biggest Lulu Hypermarket as its anchor store.

Lulu Group International Chairman & Managing Director Yusuff Ali M A said: "Today Gujarat is looked upon as a destination for its state-of-the-art facilities and its ease-of-doing-business. I learnt the basics of business in Ahmedabad, Gujarat where my family members were doing business, Gujarat is very close to my heart."

Known for its sprawling business interests worldwide, Lulu Group is now expanding in India, after having a prominent presence in the southern parts of the country for the past many years.

From supermarkets to food processing to realty to financial services, the Abu Dhabi-based group runs its popular supermarkets in the cities of Kochi, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

Earlier in July this year, it had opened its expansive supermarket in Lucknow to the public.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the diversified Lulu group has an annual turnover worth $8 billion.

The group's business portfolio ranges from hypermarket operations to shopping mall development, manufacturing and trading of goods, food processing plants, wholesale distribution, hospitality assets, and real estate development.

Lulu group has operations spread over 23 countries.