Kolkatta, May 11: Growing retail industry in India would see a phase of consolidation in the medium term while ill-planned malls were likely to go out of business, an official of real estate management company Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) said.

"There is a huge potential for the retail sector in the country since India is a large economy and 97 per cent of the country's retail trade is still in the unorganised sector," JLLM Managing Director (Kolkata market) Abhijit Das told reporters.

With the country's economy projected to grow at a rate of nine per cent per annum, there would be gradual shift of the retail business from unorganised to organised sector, he said.

In spite of this, retail sector would see a phase of consolidation in the medium term. According to Das, malls which are ill-planned and of less than average standards would be under severe pressure.

Companies like Reliance Retail, Future Group's Big Bazaar are expanding their network in the country while new players are entering the market, he said.

To a query whether only big players with deep pockets would survive only, Das said that the issue was not about big or small players.

He said a small player with an outstanding mall in terms of design, positioning, tenant mix and value proposition would always do better than a large player with a below average mall, ill-designed and poor value proposition.

The sector would continue to attract investments in the next five years, he said, adding that there was no scope for deceleration in the growth of the industry in the country.