Kolkata: Retail leasing in Kolkata saw a significant uptick in the second quarter of 2025, with transactions totalling approximately 48,500 square feet—marking a 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest market report.
The city’s main streets accounted for nearly 88 per cent of all retail leasing activity, continuing a pattern observed in recent quarters.
Theatre Road, Esplanade, and Dalhousie were key hotspots, attracting fashion and food and beverage (F&B) brands. Suburban and peripheral areas like Dhakuria, Behala, and Serampore also saw notable leasing activity, particularly from fashion and consumer durables, IT and telecom (CDIT) brands. Noteworthy mall transactions occurred at Acropolis Mall and Avani Riverside Mall. The fashion sector led the leasing volume with a 48 per cent share, followed by the F&B segment at 29 per cent. However, total leasing volume for the first half of 2025 stood at around 86,000 square feet—a 16 per cent decline compared to the same period last year.
No new malls were completed in Q2, and two upcoming malls have been deferred to 2026.
As a result, Kolkata continues to face a shortage of Grade A mall space. The city-wide mall vacancy rate declined to 6.6 per cent, while vacancy in Grade A malls fell slightly to 2.5 per cent.
Rental trends remained mostly stable. Mall rents held steady, while prime high-street locations such as Gariahat, VIP Road and Kankurgachi saw a marginal rental increase of 1-2 per cent over the quarter. Park Street, Camac Street and Theatre Road reported no quarterly change in rent, although year-on-year appreciation ranged between 2-6 per cent.
Key leasing transactions in Q2 included V-Mart taking up 21,000 sq ft in Serampore, Desi Lane leasing 13,000 sq ft in Esplanade and Bosch & Siemens occupying 3,000 sq ft in Dhakuria. With constrained mall supply expected to persist in the short term, main streets are likely to remain the focal point of Kolkata’s retail leasing landscape.