Malik's three-day total of nine-under-207 placed him one shot ahead of the rest. Delhi's Naman Dawar posted an even-par-72 to lie second at eight-under-208.
Malik (70-68-69), in pursuit of his maiden title, climbed from overnight tied fourth to pole position thanks to a clinical 69 today. He began with five pars and earned his first birdie of the day with a 10-feet conversion on the sixth.
The 28-year-old then found the par-5 10th green in two shots to pick up another stroke. A chip-putt for birdie on the 13th took him to three-under but a misjudgement on the 14th led to his only bogey of the day.
"My ball-striking has been good this week even though I've missed a number of putts. I had a terrific second-nine on day two that helped me consolidate my position on the leaderboard. We haven't encountered the typical Coimbatore wind so far this week but nonetheless it was more windy today as compared to the last two days," Malik said.
"I bogeyed the 14th after misjudging the direction of the wind. I've not had a great start to the year since I had to withdraw from two events due to a neck injury. But I'm now recovering from the injury and would like to make an impact on the season," he said.