Real estate consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has said that foreign retailers are deferring their plans to enter India by a year or two because of high real estate costs and impending elections in 2014. In its quarterly report titled, 'Asia Pacific Property Digest,' JLL said that rents in India account for 9-15 per cent of retailers’ revenue, higher than the global average of 4–10 per cent. It is a major hurdle for cost-sensitive international retailers, the report said.    

International retailers will help to reduce the dominance of city centre locations. Good but off-centre locations can bring down the land cost substantially and eventually developers can pass on these savings to their retailer occupiers with a lower rent that is compatible with their retail business, said Ashutosh Limaye head of Research and Real Estate Intelligence Service, for JLL in India.    

Though the Central government has allowed foreign direct investment in supermarkets, State governments may make separate policies. With general elections due by May 2014, retailers’ decisions to enter India could be postponed, the report said.