Look around you. On most weekends, there are as many—if not more—people in a thriving mall as there are in a park or at the beach. “As a race, we are not outdoors people; not heavily into trekking or beaches. For us, a good evening out is an air-conditioned place to shop, eat and watch a movie,” says Alok Tandon, CEO of Inox Leisure, the entertainment arm of the Inox Group. “And this will not change.”
This cultural proclivity is one of the many reasons why the multiplex business is optimistic, despite a mixed year for Bollywood, sluggish consumer spending and project delays in the construction of new shopping malls in tier I cities. As Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint managing director at PVR Ltd, India’s biggest multiplex chain, puts it, “The consumption story is too strong. The spending density is low at this stage, but I expect it to come back in about six to eight months.”
(This story appears in the 03 April, 2015 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Nice article but another big player and a game changer in the exhibition business, Carnival Cinemas is missing.
on Mar 31, 2015