The top four destinations preferred by retailers are New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the CERE study said.
"Most of the international retailers surveyed for the study opted to enter India by opening a store in a major metropolitan city, such as New Delhi (79 per cent) or Mumbai (68 per cent), before gradually expanding their footprint to other tier I locations," it said.
"The India entry strategy for most global retailers from the CBRE survey continues to be guided by the economic and demographic dynamics of leading metropolitan cities," it added.
"These locations have emerged as prime destinations mainly due to their high per capita incomes, the presence of a large working population and, in particular, a sizable share of households earning an annual income greater than INR 1 million," the survey said.