Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY 2027 results conference call of The Phoenix Mills Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Varun Parwal. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to discuss our operating and financial performance for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027. I'm pleased to share that we have made a strong start to the year with broad-based growth across our core businesses. Consolidated revenue grew 13% to INR 1,075 crores, and operating EBITDA grew 14% to INR 642 crores. Our core revenue, that is revenue from our annuity businesses, grew 17% year-on-year to INR 1,033 crores, while EBITDA increased 19% year-on-year to INR 649 crores. At Phoenix, we continue to build integrated destinations where people choose to shop, work, live, and unwind, and I think this interconnected model is once again reflecting in both the resilience and the quality of our growth. There are three messages that I'd like to leave you with this quarter.
First, our operating momentum remains strong, and importantly, it is broad-based across every one of our businesses. Second, our cash generation remains healthy, and our balance sheet remains conservative. This is even after we have funded our ongoing CapEx and completed the pending land payment for Chandigarh during the quarter, which speaks to the underlying strength of our operating cash flows and our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Third, the next phase of growth is now clearly approaching. Several of our developments and expansions are expected to become operational through 2027 and mid of 2028, while our recently completed offices continue to move steadily towards higher occupancy and billing. We have good visibility on the growth ahead. With that, I will now hand the call over to Rashmi to take you through our retail portfolio performance. Over to you, Rashmi.
Thank you, Varun. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share that our retail portfolio delivered an outstanding performance in Q1 FY 2027, with robust growth across all our key operating metrics despite no new mall area additions during the quarter. We continue to witness strong momentum in retailer sales, rental income, and trading occupancy, reflecting the strength of our assets, the successful execution of our leasing strategy, and sustained consumer demand across all our malls during this quarter. In Q1, rental income grew to INR 595 crores, increasing by 17% year-on-year, while EBITDA stood at INR 625 crores, also growing at 17% year-on-year. Consumption for the quarter stood at INR 4,730 crore, representing a strong 32% year-on-year growth, while like-to-like consumption across the portfolio grew by 24%. Growth was broad-based across categories and geographies. Apparel and accessories, which account for 60% of our trading area, grew by 24%.
Jewelry grew by 55%. Electronics grew by 61%. What is particularly encouraging is the continued strength in F&B and experience-led categories. Growth of over 20% in the F&B and entertainment categories combined reflects sustained consumer engagement in the experience-led spending, underlining our strategy of introducing new experiential concepts such as Gourmet Village at Phoenix Palladium. Over the last year, we have consistently spoken about our strategy of repositioning select mature assets by upgrading the tenant mix and enhancing the overall customer experience. The rebranding and relaunch of Phoenix MarketCity Pune as Phoenix Avenue of Stars reflects its evolution into a more premium experience-led retail destination. With an upgraded façade, refreshed interiors, an enhanced brand mix, and the introduction of bridge to luxury and super premium brands, the center has significantly elevated its market positioning and strengthened its appeal amongst the city's affluent customers.
Marquee brands such as Uniqlo, Victoria's Secret, Ethos Summit, Hugo, IKEA, and several others are already operational, while several other brands currently under fit-out. The response from both customers and retailers has been highly encouraging, with the impact visible from the very first quarter. Consumption is up by 29% year-over-year, trading density up by 26%, and rental income reaching INR 60 crores, up 13% year-over-year. Likewise, at Phoenix MarketCity Bangalore, owing to the repositioning initiatives and addition of new marquee brands, we are seeing a positive impact on both consumption and rentals, which are already up by 22%, INR 540 crore, and 17% respectively. In fact, both the Pune and Bangalore assets are operating at 89% occupancy, and we are yet to realize the full potential of our repositioning efforts at both these assets.
We are also witnessing similar positive outcomes across our other assets, where efforts made over the last few quarters are continuing to translate into measurable operating performance. These centers have delivered double-digit growth in both consumption and rentals. Over the last 12 months, we launched approximately 390 new stores, introducing several leading international and domestic brands, including Uniqlo, Lego, Rolex, COS, Bershka, Victoria's Secret, IKEA, Coach, Sephora, Michael Kors, and several others. These additions are enhancing the overall performance of our assets. Minimum guarantee rentals across our portfolio continue to grow at double-digit rates, while revenue share income is also growing at a healthy pace. During this quarter, we completed over 300 leasing transactions, covering nearly 1 million sq ft across both operational and under-construction assets. With regard to our upcoming assets, we are approaching 90% leasing at Phoenix Grand Victoria, Calcutta, 50% leasing at Surat.
Our expansion projects at Phoenix Palladium and Phoenix MarketCity Bangalore, phase II , are already more than 50% leased. Our other upcoming developments in Thane, Chandigarh, and Coimbatore are all witnessing positive traction from the retailers. From an operating standpoint, we continue to remain disciplined in our cost management. Retail EBITDA grew by 17% to INR 625 crores, broadly in line with rental growth, supported by operating discipline and healthy recoveries. As we look ahead, we remain confident in our ability to drive superior growth through active asset management, continued premiumization, strong leasing execution, and disciplined capital allocation. With a high-quality portfolio, a strong development pipeline, and deep relationships with leading retailers in India and international retailers, we are well-positioned to continue delivering sustainable value for our shareholders. I will now hand over the call to Varun to take you through the next set of highlights.
Thank you, Rashmi. I will now take you through the performance of our office business, followed by a brief update on hotels and our under-construction assets. Over the last two years, we have expanded the scale and reach of our office platform from around 2 million square feet across Mumbai and Pune in 2024 to nearly 5 million square feet across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Chennai, with three Grade A offices delivered during 2025 in three different cities. Each of these office assets is integrated within our destination retail-led campuses, combining workplace convenience with the vibrancy and amenities of a mixed-use environment, a proposition that continues to resonate well with leading corporate occupiers. During the quarter, the leased occupancy for the offices improved to 72% as of June 2026 from 70% on a lower base.
Based on the leasing achieved and the discussions currently underway, we have clear visibility and confidence for leased occupancy at Phoenix Asia Towers and One National Park in Chennai to also progress towards 90% by the end of FY 2027. As is typical in the office business, leasing leads billing and income recognition by a few quarters, so this build-up in leasing should translate progressively into higher rental income and stronger operating leverage. For the quarter, our offices generated income of INR 75 crores, up 44% year-on-year, and EBITDA of INR 42 crores, up 31% year-on-year. Rent-paying occupancy was at 42% for the period ending June 2026, and this rent-paying occupancy should catch up to the current leased occupancy of 72% by March 2027. We should continue to see growth in income and EBITDA going forward for the offices over the next three quarters as well.
Turning now to our hospitality business. The portfolio delivered a strong start to FY 2027, despite a tough macro environment for the hotel business. Income for the quarter increased by 18% year-on-year to INR 145 crores, while EBITDA grew by 19% to INR 62 crores. The St. Regis Mumbai continues to lead the performance, with income and EBITDA growing by 19% and 20%, respectively. Let me now turn briefly to our development pipeline, which is where the next phase of our growth becomes visible. 2027 is shaping up to be an important year for us, with a cluster of assets moving from construction into operation. On the retail side, we expect to operationalize four new additions to our portfolio. This includes our two new destinations, Phoenix Grand Victoria in Kolkata and Phoenix Surat, each with about a million square feet of retail.
Further, we also expand our existing portfolio with Phoenix MarketCity Bangalore and Phoenix Palladium. Alongside these, we have also offices in Whitefield, Bangalore, of around 0.4 million square feet, and the 400-key Grand Mercure Hotel, both in Whitefield, forming a part of our Phoenix MarketCity Bangalore super campus. To add to this, we also expect to launch our new residential developments in Kolkata and Bangalore by the end of 2026 or early 2027. Looking beyond 2028, our three large retail-led developments, Thane, Chandigarh, and Coimbatore, continue to move steadily through execution, with their completion targeted by 2030. Further, we have also secured approvals for phase III of the expansion at the Whitefield campus, and civil work should commence shortly.
Combined with the leasing momentum in retail that Rashmi spoke about, this pipeline gives us clear visibility into the next phase of portfolio growth, taking our retail platform towards 18 million square feet by 2030. As well as adding complementary asset classes in and around or on top of the retail developments. With that, I will now hand the call over to Kailash, who will take you through our residential business, financial performance, and capital allocation. Over to you, Kailash.
Thank you, Varun. Good morning, everyone. I'll take you through our residential performance, followed by group financial position and capital allocation during the quarter. Group residential booking for Q1 was INR 64 crore with a collection of INR 51 crore. As on June 2026, we had approximately 1.5 lakh square feet of completed inventory available for sale through our OVW and Kessaku . This has been followed by healthy performance in July 2026. We continue to approach residential development selectively as a capital efficient source of cash flow which complements our annuity businesses. We booked almost INR 64 crore sales in the Q1. We also have some agreement which is to be completed of INR 20 crore coming from the last year. Total INR 84 crore sales is likely to reflect in the Q2, which has already been done till 30 June.
At the group level, Q1 FY 2027 reflects broad-based growth across our core businesses. Consolidated revenue increased by 13% year-on-year to INR 1,075 crore, while operating EBITDA grew by 14%, to INR 642 crore with an EBITDA margin of 60%. Net profit after share of associate and minority interest increased by 23% to INR 297 crore. Landing on the cash generation, which once again, remained strong. Operating free cash flow grew 20% to INR 602 crore net of interest with our core businesses contributing to INR 584 crore, an increase of 31% year-on-year basis. This gives us a strong foundation to fund our development pipeline while maintaining balance sheet discipline. Capital expenditure during the quarter was INR 1,085 crore. Of this, INR 314 crore has gone to the construction and INR 771 crore has been deployed towards the land acquisition and development rights.
The larger part of this reflects INR 716 crore paid to GMADA towards our land at Chandigarh, which was the balance payment effectively, which we have announced last year. Importantly, this means we are now developing Chandigarh as a wholly owned project of PML. We have just started excavation work to this site. As on June 2026, gross debt stood at INR 5,658 crore and net debt of INR 3,658 crore. Effectively, carrying almost INR 2,000 crore as a cash in our balance sheet. The net debt to EBITDA remained conservative at 1.3 times. Importantly, the increase in borrowing during the quarter was directly towards the asset under development, even as debt associated with our operational assets remained disciplined. Looking ahead, our priority remains unchanged. Disciplined execution, driving sustainable growth in earning and cash flow, delivery of our development pipeline while maintaining prudent leverage and adequate liquidity.
With this, I think now we open the floor for the Q and A session.
Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Puneet Gulati with HSBC. Please go ahead.
Residential project in Kolkata and the second phase.
I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Puneet. Could you please repeat your question?
Can you hear me now?
Yeah.
Yes, we can hear you now, Puneet.
Okay, great. Yeah. Thank you so much for the opportunity. My first question is with respect to the plan to launch Kolkata and the second phase of Bangalore's residential project. What sort of product are you envisaging for Kolkata? Now you're talking of early 2027. What's driving this delay in launch?
I think, Puneet, both products at Kolkata and Bangalore are planned as premium residential projects. Especially if you look at Bangalore, we have seen phenomenal demand for the product and the location and the amenities that we have created. During this quarter, we were actually able to sell at an average price of INR 36,000 a sq ft. That is 50% higher than what we were selling back in 2024, or double of what we were selling back in 2022. I think if I just talk of Bangalore first, there is very strong demand for the product and the community that we have created. I would say more than the delay, the timeline just accounts for time it would take for approvers and re-approvers, et cetera. It's more indicative, right? It's not like there is a delay or something.
I think same for Kolkata as well. I think we are looking at replicating the experience we have seen with One Bangalore West and Kessaku, wherein we have a premium gated community, and the first of its kind in a city that has been starved of luxury residential projects.
Can you give some sense of realization there and area that you will finally end up launching?
Sorry, you're talking about Kolkata or Bangalore?
Kolkata.
Kolkata.
Puneet, total area is likely to be around 1.2 million square feet at Kolkata. The launch price could be in the range of, right now I don't have an exact number, but could be around INR 30,000 plus or minus a few percentage.
Okay. That's helpful. Thank you so much. Second, even on the Bangalore PMC expansion was scheduled to come in 2026, now that's coming in 2027, 170,000 sq ft.
Yeah.
How does one read that?
I think we are adding not just the third floor, but within the mall itself, we have undertaken significant renovation and the change in tenant mix that Rashmi spoke about earlier. That in itself has been very disruptive, per se, to the entire customer experience. We thought that it just a bit more prudent to stagger it rather than trying to do everything at once. Now in Bangalore as well, occupancy has moved back up to 89%, Uniqlo and the other retailers have opened up, and several others are under fit-out. This additional floor that we are adding in Bangalore is entirely an F&B-oriented floor. We have 30-plus restaurants that we are going to add in here. I think therefore the timeline is. When we say 2027, why that's a calendar year guidance, it's more like early 2027.
Okay. Understood. That's very helpful. Lastly, while we completely understand the gap between consumption and rental here attributable to jewelry and electronics. This time, even on the fashion retail side, the consumption growth was very strong at almost 24%. Should one think of rental growth catching up to that sort of number into next few quarters or wishful thinking?
As far as our rental growth is concerned, 50% of our portfolio is coming up for lease expiry over the next three years. There's a substantial opportunity for us to capture the market rents through all these renewals and re-leasing for this portfolio. Varun also mentioned all the new assets that we will be adding over the next few years. We see substantial rental growth coming from this addition that we are doing and the upcoming expiries. As regards the correlation between consumption and rental growth, like you rightly mentioned, the difference between consumption and growth is primarily driven by the mix of our categories and commercial structures. Without jewelry and gold, our consumption is at 25% and rent is at 17%. It's important to remember that our business is actually built on a partnership model with retailers.
Our objective is not simply to keep maximizing rental growth in the short term, but we want to create an environment where retailers can grow their sales substantially. Strong retailer productivity will ultimately translate into stronger and durable growth. While you're seeing a growth, a lot of the brands in the fashion category may have not reached threshold levels in spite of the growth that you're seeing because our market rents are generally competitive. As we see further growth and more of these brands reaching the threshold sales, we will continue to see higher productivity on the variable revenue share side of the rental income as well.
Okay. That's very clear. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question comes from the line of Pritesh Sheth with Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions. Firstly, how should we look at these, 8.7 odd million square feet of expiries over five years in terms of the mark to market or the upside potential that one can think of, right? Like where are the current minimum guarantees versus current market rentals that you are on an average blended you are charging. Just some sort of guidance on that, on how should we see in the upside potential?
Sure, Pritesh. I would avoid talking about what could happen in the future, Pritesh. From what we have done in the past, I think we have used our rented expiries in a very conducive manner, wherein not only have we been able to renew and retain the key tenants, but at the same time create space to bring in new tenants and overall drive rental growth by 20%-30%. That in itself has been a strong boost to what you see in terms of rental growth across the portfolio. We also use rented expiries to create new experiential zones. Like today-
Yeah
if you look at Mall of Asia, within three years of opening, Mall of Asia has reached a trading density of INR 3,000 a square feet. I don't think this is a number that anyone in the community was expecting a mall to report. It is even more remarkable considering it has come within three years of the asset becoming operational. We are using the learnings from Mall of Asia, Mall of the Millennium, and Ahmedabad to relook at the experiences and the brands that we can bring across our existing mature assets to drive further growth, consumption, and rental over there.
Sure. Got it. Just as a follow-up, a couple of questions there. Out of this 8.7, how much proportion would be anchor expiry? And I'm sure this is at the current leasable area basis. Will there be densification which we would be targeting in this? Like one larger brand replacing multiple smaller brands and hence area generating rent itself goes up. If you can just help us with these two things, if at all you can. Yeah.
Specifically on that question, I think it's asset to asset where we feel that we can optimize the asset better by bringing a larger number of inline brands. I think this strategy is really asset-based. On your other question, we are seeing healthy growth in terms of consumption, and we expect to continue to see healthy growth in consumption going forward. As well as we have a great pipeline of new brands that want to come into our assets. As you know, most of our assets are leased at close to 97%, 98%. This enables us the opportunity, both the consumption growth as well as the wait list pipeline that we have of retailers who are not in the center who want to come in. It gives us the opportunity to increase the renewal rents at much higher rate than market rates.
However, we are also conscious of keeping the occupancy costs of the retailers because we want them to continue to profit as well in our malls.
Sure.
I think Lucknow is a great example where you've seen some very positive growth from the last year to this. If you look at it, Lucknow is a classic example because it's in the sixth year. While the anchors have not come up for expiry as yet, we've seen a good rental income growth of 8% and consumption growth of 21%. We have the anchors coming up for expiry in, I think, three years in that center.
Sure. Just on anchors, how much would be total proportion of this 8.7?
Pritesh, we don't have that breakup right now.
Okay. Got it.
We also don't think that it may be relevant because we actually focus on category and ensuring that our malls are a complete one-stop destination. We will actually try and look at what customers expect to find in a leading mall and ensure that our malls are designed to capture the customer's complete discretionary wallet, not just, say, fashion or F&B, et cetera.
Sure. Second, on the future developments. I think in slide 30, you have mentioned Lower Parel, we are adding 1.6 million sq ft of offices. I thought Project Rise was a million sq ft office and a 300,000 sq ft retail. Just some clarification on that. What is the total potential at Thane and Chandigarh, since whatever we are developing now is just part of the first phase. Yeah, that is my last question.
Sure. I think, in Lower Parel, we are building Project Rise, we also have an office tower adjacent to Project Rise that is coming up at the same time. Combined, the leasable area would be 1.5-1.6 million sq ft. Secondly, to your question on Thane, I think the overall potential on paper, Pritesh, should be in excess of 4 million sq ft. We believe that it may not be financially prudent to consume that entire potential today at one go. What we have planned is a retail mall development of about 1.3 million sq ft, a hotel with about 400- keys, and an office with about 1.2 million sq ft, with the potential to add a third tower to consume the balance FSI.
In Chandigarh also, right now what we are using is the base FSI potential and some extra FSI that we have secured to build a retail mall of about 1.5-1.7 million sq ft. Further on top of the mall, we would have the potential to add two towers. That's a decision that we will take later whether we add two hotels or we add some other use to complement the retail development.
Got it. Very helpful. Thanks and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kunal Lakhan with CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Firstly, it's been some time since we acquired land. We were quite active in 2023 and 2024 in terms of land acquisition. It's been some time now, and considering the fact that some of the under construction assets will get completed in FY 2027 and 2028, and the kind of liquidity that we have, how should we look at capital allocation towards land going into 2027 and 2028. You have highlighted in your presentation the markets that you'll be actively looking at. Just wanted some color on that.
No, sure. Current, at any point of time, Phoenix normally in discussion with two to three land owners minimum. It takes time to materialize because it's a very complicated process right from getting into the land and understanding the legality of it and diligence. Definitely, we are looking at it very constructive way, in acquisitions also. We will be very judicious in selecting the land parcel in different cities or at different locations. Hopefully, you will hear some news in the next few quarters.
Sure.
Kunal, one thing also to look at from a capital allocation perspective is the fact that we are reinvesting within our assets to densify these developments. These densification projects are very IRR accretive for us because the land cost is already absorbed within the retail mall. It is only the incremental cost of FSI and construction basis which we are building a hotel or an office or at times both across our projects. Like even in Lucknow at this point in time, we are looking at adding some additional retail and a hotel on top of the retail mall in Lucknow. Do not just look at what land we acquire or we secure, but also the new assets that we are adding on top. Of course, we have not spoken about Lower Parel, but we also have further development potential at Lower Parel.
What we do at Lower Parel can at times equal to two or three land acquisition output effectively. Like Kailash said, we are very actively in discussions. I think as and when we are able to close and announce the new acquisitions, I think you will get more visibility on the pipeline beyond 2030 as well.
Understood. Second question is on the expiries that we spoke about. More than 50% of our area is coming up for renewal or expiring. Just want to understand how do we approach this in terms of, say, how much of this area will get renewed versus, say, an active churn to maximize the trading density?
Yeah. Typically, as far as the expiries are concerned, we start planning well in advance. For example, in Indore and Ahmedabad, the first set of 5 lakh sq ft expiries are going to come up after a year. The team has already started strategizing and planning in terms of the renewal approach for these brands. Like I mentioned in the previous question, you also have to create space for some of the newer high-performing brands that didn't get an opportunity to enter the asset when we were opening the asset five years back. You also have to have somewhat a bit of a churn strategy, which enables those brands to come into the asset as well. There's really sort of deep thinking and strategy that goes into it well in advance, one year, sometimes two years in advance.
All right. How do you approach this in terms of you tend to look at, say, mark to market in rentals that you will be able to achieve or mark to market in terms of trading densities that you'll be able to achieve?
I think it's multiple factors, really. It's multiple factors because, fortunately, most of our assets are performing as an outlier in every city. There is that opportunity to command higher market rentals because of the way they are performing and the way the outlook looks for the next few years. For most of our brands, fortunately, they see that their performance in our malls is the highest. They also partner with us in terms of our rental expectations because they know that they will continue to see sales growth in our centers. Really, it's multiple. You study the categories, you will study the brand performance. It'll be the overall vision and strategy for the center that we have. For example, F&B is a big focus area for us going forward.
In some of our centers, we are also converting some of the retail spaces into F&B to enable 15%-16% of the area being F&B. We want to take our Gourmet Village to other centers. I think it's not just about rent maximization. It's about an overall vision and strategy that we have, which is individual to each center, keeping the long-term objective both for us as well as our retail partners in view.
One last question from my side in terms of, we did phenomenally well in terms of our Bengaluru asset, in terms of growing the consumption as well as trading densities. I think outside of that also, we've done fairly well with some of the other assets like Ahmedabad, the new Phoenix Avenue of Stars mall, where we've seen some healthy growth in consumption. Do you think this kind of growth will continue on this new base for even these newer assets, like, say, 20%-25% consumption growth going into 2027 and 2028 maybe?
We are seeing that this growth is continuing in July. July, the indication is that it'll end with over 20% growth. We are seeing this trend continuing going forward in terms of a healthy double-digit growth in consumption.
Okay, great. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Parvez Qazi with Nuvama Group. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon. Congratulations for a great set of numbers. Two questions from my side. First, I know Project Rise as well as Rise 3 is maybe two years down the line. Considering that overall office market and especially in Lower Parel is doing really well, what are our thoughts on pre-leasing there? Do we want to lock in some deals today, or you think we'll wait and do this only near completion? Also, what is the kind of rates that we could potentially target here? That's the first question. The second is, last year we had also bought additional FSI in Lower Parel, about 1.5 million sq ft. By when can we finalize the development plans for the same? Thank you.
Sure, Parvez. Let me take the first question. I think on Rise offices, we have first created an outstanding product. I don't think people will find a product like this anywhere else in Mumbai. This is going to be the best office product in the city. We are already seeing very strong demand from tenants. We haven't disclosed it in our presentation. We have started pre-leasing. We have already committed some of the area already. The rental guidance that I can give you is that we are looking at closing these in a range of, say, INR 350-INR 400 on the leasable area basis. Does that answer your question one?
Yeah. That answers. Thank you.
Can you repeat your question two once again, please?
About the additional FSI that we acquired in Lower Parel last year, about 1.4, 1.5 million square feet. By when will we be able to finalize a development plan for that?
I think our development plans are progressing along nicely. We have also secured several of the approvals required for it also. I think give us time to open Rise retail, then we'll come out and share our further plans for the Lower Parel asset.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Girish Choudhary with Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, if you look at the consumption growth, jewelry and electronics have contributed disproportionately, not only this quarter, but in the past few quarters as well, right? Also the revenue sharing or the rental as a percentage of consumption is lower in these categories, right? If you could give us contribution of these categories to the retail rental income, it will be really helpful understanding the underlying growth of the rest of the retail portfolio, right? Going ahead, what can also happen, because if the gold prices are down, which we have seen from peak levels, at some point in time, it will also impact the consumption negatively, these two categories. How should we understand this from a broader portfolio, rest of the other categories?
Sure, Girish. I think together, jewelry and electronics occupy only around 5% of our trading area, but they contribute 28% of consumption, and they contribute about 7.5% of rental. Rashmi has already spoken about the rental economics of these categories, wherein they tend to have a very high fixed rental, and minimal to low revenue share percentage. The important part is that in terms of consumption, they actually have a productivity which is five times the portfolio average. These categories also bring very high intent visits around weddings, festivals, product launches, and replacement cycles. Once customers come to the mall, the visit often extends to fashion, dining, and entertainment as well. These categories actually strengthen the entire mall ecosystem while using relatively limited space.
To your question on gold prices, we recognize that jewelry growth can partially reflect higher gold prices, and at some point this may come off. The important point to note is that consumption does not translate into rental income one-on-one. Today, you're seeing the disproportionate growth between consumption growth of jewelry and electronics vis-à-vis the rental growth. At the same time, if you take out jewelry and electronics, the rest of the portfolio, which is 70% of the portfolio, has grown at 24%. Fashion and other brands have grown at 24%, F&B has grown at 26%, and the rental growth for the rest of the portfolio has been at 17%. The gap between consumption and rental growth is very low for the rest of the portfolio.
Got it. That's helpful. Just to clarify, you mentioned the rentals from jewelry and electronics is 7.5% of the total rental?
Yes.
Got it. That's useful. Second, if you could also help us understand when can we see the convergence of trading occupancy and the leased occupancy for the Bangalore MarketCity model? There I see a higher gap versus some of the other malls.
I think it should happen by the end of this financial year, Girish.
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Abhinav Sinha with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Hi. Just couple of things to ask. Firstly, on consumption, we have had very strong quarters, last two of them. How is July trending? Do you think that once we have the new area expansions in base, in Palladium in Bangalore, this will start to come down?
You'll see that our trading densities have also gone up in line with our consumption. While consumption is growing at 32%, trading densities are also growing at 26%. You're seeing a per square feet growth in trading across all our centers. Like you rightly said, in some of our assets, in both Bangalore and Pune assets, our occupancy is currently at 89%. While these assets are leased over 95%, you'll see those assets getting filled up as well in terms of higher trading occupancies. With the more stores and malls opening, we expect that the trading densities will continue to rise, whereby the consumption will continue to rise, even though these assets are becoming sort of more and more mature. We are seeing that the trading densities and consumption will continue to rise across assets.
Okay. Just a question on July, any letup there? Is there, say, a one-off in the previous quarter, say early-
July, we are already seeing that July will see healthy growth over 20%. July is already trending well.
Okay. Second question is on the expansion bit, you've discussed the Project Rise commercial. Can you also talk about how the Phoenix Palladium Mall will shape out in the next couple of years in terms of area and what are you planning in terms of new stores?
That's an interesting question. Phoenix Palladium continues to be our flagship asset, and we continue to always think ahead of time in terms of bringing new experiences and new brands to our customers. That journey will continue because our vision keeps evolving. What we are looking at in the next financial year is we are looking at opening the next new phase of expansion, which is going to be about 4.5 Lakh square feet. That is where we are working on currently in terms of planning the tenant mix and leasing of that 4.5 Lakh square feet, where we've already completed leasing of about 50% of that area.
Okay. This will open in middle of late 2027, right? The whole 4.5 Lakh.
It will open in FY 2027-2028.
Okay, got it. Thank you, and all the best.
The next question comes from the line of Akash Gupta with Nomura. Please go ahead.
Hi. Am I audible?
Yes, Akash, go ahead.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on a good set of results. My first question is on slide 20, is related to your slide 27. For the Surat Mall, you were expecting the completion in 2027, and I'm seeing it's 2027-2028. In addition to the Bangalore expansion, has there been any delay for the Surat Mall? That's my first question.
No delays as such. We are expecting Surat to open by the end of 2027 or early 2028. It is still very much in line with those expectations. Our new mall opening is like getting the full band together. You're looking at over 350 retailers coming together, training their staff, completing their fit outs, and you're also looking at completing your final fit out works and getting all the approvals in place. It's good to always have some operational headroom in terms of opening line, and the date of the final opening of the mall is typically done in consultation with the key retailer groups. Just give us that flexibility. As we go ahead in coming quarters, we'll keep fine-tuning this number until, I think by mid-next year, we will announce the launch date as well.
Understood. For all the expansions that we have in 2027, should we expect any rental contribution from these in FY 2028, or would all these expansions generally have contribution from FY 2029 only?
No, I think you will start seeing contributions from the first month that they open up in FY 2028. Our contracts are higher of fixed rent or revenue share, whichever is higher. The fixed rent starts from the first month that the tenants move in and their stores are open for trading. You will see contribution coming from FY 2028 itself. Then, of course, you will have more stores open by FY 2029. Our malls typically take about 12 months to reach up to 85%, 90% occupancy. That happens over a 12-month period, and hence the full year impact of rent and consumption growth you will see in FY 2029 and FY 2030. Not very dissimilar, Akash, from the trend that you may have already seen for Ahmedabad, Mall of the Millennium or Mall of Asia, which are also just completing three years this year.
You can very much take that trend and apply it to Kolkata or Surat as well.
Understood. Sir, my final question is with respect to your consumption growth. I heard on the call that July is trending at roughly 20% plus. This is lower on a quarter-on-quarter basis, like we have been doing 30% over the last two quarters. With the base coming in over the next couple of quarters, is this the kind of growth rate that we should expect around 20% for the next four quarters if the new mall's coming towards the second half of next year?
It's an interesting question, Akash. I would be happy with the 20% growth, if it continues for the next 12 months. But I think we will focus on what we control and where we can channelize our efforts, both in terms of marketing, both in terms of getting the best brands to come into our malls. And the productivity impact or initiative that you end up getting from new brands coming in is unprecedented. I think, take a look at Phoenix Avenue of Stars, where the addition of Uniqlo, IKEA, and a few premium retail clusters has led to a 29% growth in consumption. And there are several brands that are still under fit-out because the lease occupancy in Phoenix MarketCity Bangalore and Phoenix Avenue of Stars is actually at 97%-99% right now.
There is still a long runway to go there as far as trading occupancy is concerned, and that should give support at least to the rental income. Like we've also stated, I think this is something that Rashmi and I have guided to even in quarter four, what we control and what we focus on also is on our rental growth. And even at the beginning of the year before the quarter one results came out, we had guided to a mid-teens growth in rental income for both 2027 and 2028. I think we can continue to stay with that guidance and then evolve how quarter two shapes up. Because typically, while quarter two has a strong July and a strong period of August up to the first 10, 15 days, after that consumption typically tends to drop sharply.
September typically would end up being the weakest consumption month in the year, and how you do in that month actually makes or breaks your consumption numbers for the quarter. So, keep our fingers crossed, keep visiting the malls, spend time in our malls, and we will catch up again at the time of quarter two.
Understood. Sir, if I just may ask one more question is with respect to retail income as a percentage of consumption. I think that's one number we track. It's around 12.5% this quarter. This number used to trend around 14%, I think three years back. So, how should we think about this number at least over the next, let's say, one year? Where does this number go?
It's an interesting question, Akash, because there's a lot of changes that Rashmi and the leasing team are doing in the malls. We have added several new international brands. We have added more gold and we have added more jewelry and electronics brands. We have also increased our rent that we are able to realize from our existing tenants. There is an interesting dynamic at play in here, but I would assume that one should still continue to focus on that range of 12%-14% as the rent to consumption number. We will also do some more work on this and come back to you to see where this trends up.
Like we mentioned earlier, because consumption is growing at a very healthy rate, when the expiries come up, it gives us better opportunity in terms of maximizing our rentals going forward in expiries or churn opportunities to bring the new brands at higher rentals. The higher consumption is a positive impact for us to increase our rentals when that opportunity arises.
Understood. Thank you so much for answering all my questions.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Thank you so much for joining us on this conference call. We look forward to seeing you next quarter. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Thank you. On behalf of Phoenix Mills Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.