Essel's cinema screen in multiplex @ Avinasi road
E-City Ventures, the real-estate and entertainment arm of the Essel Group, “it is essential to build a business model around tier 2 and 3 cities,” says Atul Goel, CEO, E-City Ventures, while adding, “we have formulated a plan to roll out 1,500 screens through a multiplex, fun cinemas and fun junction – the budget brand, single-screen refurbishment and a digital strategy, by 2011, out of which 70% would be located in tier 2 and tier 3 cities of the country.” While it already has its premium and luxury cinema brand imprint with 46 screens at 13 locations including Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi and Bangalore, it recently introduced a four-screen budget ‘fun junction’ at Gulbarga in Karnataka.“The tier 2 and 3 cities are increasingly gaining importance in our business. For the year 2006-07, the business contributed by non-metros was about 55% of the company’s total revenues,” points out Goel. This has encouraged the company to focus on a hinterland rollout of multiplexes. It has already signed another 150 screens that would be operational by 2009 in towns like Ambala, Kota, Surat, Coimbatore, Jalandhar, Mangalore, Eluru, Solapur, Moradabad and Jammu. By 2011, Fun Multiplex Private Ltd (FMPL), the cinema venture of the Essel Group would have 300 multiplex screens commissioned.
