Private equity (PE) firms and wealth funds in India have invested over $200 million in retail assets during the year, a report said here on Thursday.

According to the India Retail MarketView Report – H1 2017, India has topped the global Retail Development Index in 2017 — overtaking China — with 70 new entries and expansions by global and domestic brands across Mumbai, Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) and Bengaluru in the first six months of the year.

The report — launched by real estate consulting firm CBRE South Asia — said several retail developments were completed across select cities, resulting in approximately 1.5 million square feet of fresh supply entering the market.

“During the first half of the year, demand for quality retail space remained robust with a majority of this supply concentrated in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR,” said the report.

“Our ranking on the 2017 Global Retail Index for developing countries as well as continued investment by private equity players is a demonstration of the sustained preference of international brands to set up, or expand their operations in India,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE.

“With several legislations and policies in implementation mode, we are already seeing an increase in consumer and investor confidence. This will have a cascading effect on the retail segment. Overall, retail real estate will continue to grow and witness healthy demand across tier I and II cities,” Magazine added.

The report pointed out that during the first half of 2017, many international brands already present in the country expanded their presence.

“Several hypermarkets, too, were in expansionary mode including Big Bazaar which opened new stores in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Clothing retailers such as Max and Pantaloons were also active during the review period,” it said.

Vivek Kaul, Head, Retail Services, India for CBRE South Asia, said while global brands continue to evaluate and consider quality retail developments in the top cities, with growing globalisation, smaller cities are also gaining prominence and witnessing traction.

As per the report, rental trends continued to vary across key high streets in major cities.

“While high streets such as Connaught Place, Khan Market and South Extension in Delhi and Park Street and Elgin Road in Kolkata witnessed a rental appreciation, rentals in most other high streets remained stable. At the same time, some high streets such as Linking Road in Mumbai and MG Road in Pune saw a marginal dip in rentals,” the report added.