Department store group Shopper’s Stop is to open a further 12 outlets in the next three years. The first four will be this year in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. The retailer, one of India’s biggest with 26 department stores, said that one of the triggers for expansion was the steep fall in rental values for shopping centre space.

The retailer closed more than a dozen unprofitable stores during the last fiscal year and has come out of its joint venture with Argos as well as shutting down its Brio Cafe chain.