Date:30/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/04/30/stories/2004043001571900.htm

Back MPM Group plans to open malls in Jaipur, Bangalore

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , April 29

MPM Group, promoters of MPM Mall, is planning to expand to Jaipur and Bangalore.

"We are holding talks to open malls there," Mr Raj Kumar Malpani, Chairman and Managing Director of the group, said.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said the group was taking up two malls in Himayatnagar and Ameerpet in the city at a cost of Rs 100 crore in the next two years.

"We are also going to take up two residential projects at Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills," he said.

"Besides housing a variety of shopping outlets, these malls will have multiplexes and food courts," he said.

"Our idea is to enhance the shopping experience of our customers," he said.

Mr Girish Malpani, Chief Executive Officer, said the Rs 75-crore Ameerpet mall would have a four-screened multiplex and star hotel. The project would be completed in 2006.

The Rs 25-crore Himayatnagar mall would have a three-screened multiplex. "This will come up in one year's time," Mr Girish said.

He said there was a good appetite among shoppers in the city for a good shopping experience.

"Unlike in Bangalore, there is no high street shopping in Hyderabad. The Government should intervene to develop space for pedestrian shopping. People would love to take a stroll or two for shopping like the way people do on the Brigade Road (in Bangalore)," he said.

The Rs 50-core group, which has interests in hospitality and construction sectors, has won ISO 9001:2000 for the mall at Abids.

The company opened the MPM Cruiser, a dummy ship that housed six outlets, on mall's lobby. "The deck of the ship will act as a rest zone for customers shopping at the mall," Mr Girish said.