India’s organised retail landscape is steadily moving beyond transactional shopping towards experience-driven destinations where dining, entertainment and social engagement take centre stage. In 2025, retail leasing across major cities touched approximately 8.9 million sq. ft., among the strongest performances in recent years. While fashion brands accounted for nearly 48% of leasing demand, food and beverage made up about 13% and entertainment close to 8%, underlining the growing weight of experiential formats. Across north India, several prominent malls and high streets reflect this transition.

Ambience Mall, located on NH-48 along the Delhi–Gurugram border, remains one of NCR’s largest retail destinations. Opened in 2007 and spanning nearly 1.8 million sq. ft., it houses over 200 outlets alongside multiplex and dining options, positioning itself as a combined retail and leisure hub. Similarly, Ambience Mall continues to anchor organised retail in south Delhi with its expansive brand mix, entertainment zones and established food offerings.

In west Delhi, Vegas Mall caters to a catchment of over one million residents, blending fashion retail with gaming zones and a multiplex to drive longer visits. Gurugram’s Reach 3Roads adopts an open-air, pedestrian-friendly high street design along the fast-growing SPR corridor, prioritising community interaction over enclosed formats.

Beyond NCR, CP67 integrates retail, office and entertainment in a mixed-use layout along Airport Road, reflecting tier-two market ambitions. In new residential belts of Gurugram, Felix Plaza is planned with over 150 outlets and leisure zones, while SPJ Vedatam introduces organised retail infrastructure into the dense Old Gurugram neighbourhood.

Collectively, these projects underline how India’s malls are increasingly designed as lifestyle ecosystems where visitors come not only to shop, but to dine, socialise and spend time

The Pune edition of Saksham, a knowledge-led industry platform by Elanpro, brought together hospitality professionals, kitchen consultants, engineers, compliance experts, and solution providers for focused discussions on strengthening safety systems and infrastructure discipline across food service operations.

With over 70 participants attending the one-day programme, the discussions revolved around three core operational pillars: Safety, Compliance & Audit Readiness, and Sustainable Infrastructure. These themes reflected the increasing need for structured systems as restaurants, hotels, cloud kitchens, and food retail formats continue to scale at speed.

The inaugural session featured insights from Atul Gokhale, Dean, SSCANS; Pramod Paleri, Founder, S&P Associates; and Rajeev Jalnapurkar, Former Chairman, Indian Association of Amusement Parks & Industries. The speakers set the tone by underlining the importance of disciplined operational frameworks in managing growth responsibly.

Technical sessions during the day addressed critical operational areas such as LPG safety, cold-chain management, electrical safety systems, compliance cost exposure, smart manufacturing practices, and sustainable kitchen design. The sessions were led by industry experts including Sanjay Jain, Director, Elanpro; Jesal Sampat, CEO, Pune Gas; Sanjiv Deshmukh, Kitchen Solutions; Swapnil Deshpande, Swastik Synergy Engineering; Jayaant Dongrre, Catalyst Support Services; Vishwanath Pandey, THI; Moiz Master, Alister Equipment; P. Sravan Kumar, Founding Member, HCF; and Nivedita Dileep, CII-IGBC.

The discussions highlighted that while the food service industry is expanding rapidly, gaps remain in areas such as temperature discipline, preventive maintenance, gas handling protocols, and audit preparedness. Participants agreed that these gaps often expose businesses to avoidable operational and financial risks. A key takeaway was the need to embed compliance into everyday operations rather than treating it as a periodic checklist.

Speaking about the initiative, Sanjay Jain, Director, Elanpro, said, “Food businesses today operate at unprecedented scale and speed. Sustainable growth requires strong operational systems and informed technical decisions. Saksham is designed to bridge knowledge gaps and equip teams with practical frameworks that can be implemented immediately.”

Sharing his perspective at the event, Sravan Kumar, Founding Member, HCF, said, “As the industry expands, strengthening safety fundamentals and compliance readiness becomes critical. Collaborative knowledge-sharing initiatives such as Saksham help raise professional standards while supporting responsible and sustainable growth.”

Elanpro also reiterated the importance of application-driven refrigeration systems in maintaining food integrity, improving energy efficiency, and optimising lifecycle costs in high-load kitchen environments.

Positioned as a continuing multi-city initiative, Saksham aims to address city-specific operational challenges while steadily strengthening professional standards across India’s evolving food service ecosystem.

Growing awareness around personal hygiene and everyday wellbeing is changing how modern bathrooms are designed and experienced. Responding to this shift, Duravit continues to shape the future of bathroom hygiene with its SensoWash range of shower toilets, developed to combine comfort, technology, and clean aesthetics.

The SensoWash range is designed to fit seamlessly into contemporary bathroom spaces while enhancing daily comfort. By bringing together intelligent features, easy operation, and thoughtful design, the collection reflects Duravit’s focus on practical innovation for modern living.

Duravit’s SensoWash portfolio includes SensoWash i Pro, SensoWash Starck f Pro, SensoWash Starck f Plus, SensoWash Classic, and SensoWash D-Neo. Each model offers different levels of comfort, technology, and design expression, allowing homeowners, architects, and developers to select solutions that suit individual lifestyle needs and available space.

Intelligent Hygiene and Comfort Features

Hygiene and user comfort sit at the heart of the SensoWash experience. The range features adjustable spray functions, with gentle forward and backward movement of the spray wand to ensure effective and comfortable cleansing. The spray wand and nozzle are automatically cleaned before and after every use, supporting high hygiene standards.

Selected models allow users to personalise settings such as water temperature, spray intensity, and wand position. Smart controls, including remote operation and app-based functionality on certain models, make it easy to save and recall individual preferences.

Additional comfort features such as warm air drying, heated seats, automatic lid opening and closing, odour extraction, and subtle night lighting help create a relaxed and intuitive bathroom environment.

Hygienic performance is further supported by Duravit Rimless flushing technology, which ensures efficient flushing while promoting responsible water usage. Built for durability and long-term reliability, the SensoWash range highlights Duravit’s commitment to quality, sustainability, and German engineering excellence.

“With SensoWash, we combine intelligent technology with comfort-driven design to redefine bathroom hygiene. Building on over 208 years of German design and engineering heritage, Duravit remains committed to offering solutions that enhance everyday wellbeing. As awareness around wellness and water-based hygiene continues to grow, our focus remains on delivering products that reflect our core values of quality, sustainability, and engineering excellence.” said Sahyog Bharti Pandita, Managing Director, Duravit India & SAARC.

With its advanced SensoWash portfolio, Duravit continues to lead the way in modern bathroom hygiene, bringing together technology, comfort, and wellbeing in everyday spaces.

About Duravit

Founded in 1817 in Hornberg in the Black Forest, Duravit is today a leading international manufacturer of designer bathroom solutions and operates in more than 130 countries worldwide. During product development, the company’s in-house design team works closely with an international network of designers including Cecilie Manz, Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Christian Werner, and Sebastian Herkner.

As an energy-intensive company, Duravit aims to become entirely climate-neutral by 2045 and to avoid CO2 offsetting as far as possible.