new delhi fresh supply of retail space in shopping malls increased by 39 per cent in 2013 to 459 million sq ft in eight top cities despite delay in completion of 18 malls said a global property consultant national capital region ncr bengaluru and ahmedabad did not see any new addition of mall spaces for the entire year in 2013 cushman and wakefield said adding that chennai saw the highest supply of 2 million sq ft followed by mumbai 9 lakh sq ft pune 7 lakh sq ft and kolkata 5 lakh sq ft retail mall space has recorded an increase of 39 per cent in fresh mall space supply in 2013 over the last year despite deferment of 18 malls in the year cw said in a statement out of 18 malls deferred 10 are in the ncr most of these have been on account of funding issues which have led many developers to go slow on pace of construction an estimated 98 million sq ft of mall spaces have been deferred in 2013 for completion in later times the maximum deferment was witnessed in ncr at 73 million sq ft vacancy reduced by 2 per cent over last year on account of increased leasing activities in the freshly launched malls most of which started with high percentage of occupancy retail markets have started to show signs of maturity with developers taking interest in creating value out of their projects for all stake holders cw executive managing director south asia sanjay dutt said developers are now consciously creating shopping malls that are more suited to the requirements of the retailers as well as consumers as a result new malls have opened with high occupancy levels with exception of few he added many developers have deferred their mall projects to align them to their customer requirements to ensure the success of their projects the consultant said as in the case of hospitality shopping centres also have a long gestation period therefore investors are interested only in those projects where the fundamentals are strong and can provide sustainable returns and profitability over a long period of time dutt said