Lulu hypermarkets

UAE retailer Lulu Group has announced plans to invest INR 50bn (US$663.3m) opening shopping malls in India over the coming four years, according to a report from Retail Business Review.

Deals have already been done to commence construction on shopping complexes in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.

'The business environment in India has improved significantly,” Lulu’s Yusuf Ali told Press Trust of India. “A lot of restrictions are removed to facilitate investment. The best thing the new government has done is to treat all non-resident Indian investment as domestic investment.”

Ali said that the group would equally open 12 new hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia in the next few years, to add to its current 14, requiring an investment of around US$406.5m.

Plans are also afoot to open ten new hypermarkets in Egypt, with Lulu intending to procure locally produced fruits and vegetables for the stores, according to Gulf News.