HDIL Scripts Rs 1,000 Cr Multiplex Foray

MUMBAI: Real estate firm Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) has decided to enter the entertainment sector under the brand name Broadway. HDIL will invest close to Rs 1,000 crore to fund its organic as well as inorganic expansion in the country’s multiplex market.

“HDIL Entertainment will be our holding company for our entertainment foray while Broadway will be our brand name for the theatre chain business. We have plans to set up over 150 theatres in major cities by the end of the fiscal 2009.” HDIL MD Sarang Wadhawan told ET.

He said that HDIL entertainment is scouting for acquisition in the theatre chain business and talks are on with various firms in the industry. The current multiplex market size in India is 13,000 screens and the domestic film industry is generating around Rs 8,000 crore of revenue a year. Firms like Adlabs, Pyramid Saimira Theatre, PVR Cinema, Cinemax, Shringar and Inox are the major players in the multiplex industry.

An industry analyst said the multiplex industry, which showed strong growth potential during the past few years, is expected to rake in investments of Rs 2,000 crore in two years. The growing share of entertainment expenditure in the disposable income pie is driving a revolution.

HDIL’s new venture will offer films through its multiplexes and will have a range of gaming centres with food court that will be managed by Broadway. HDIL will set up its first Broadway theatre in Vasai, a Mumbai suburb. This will be followed with the opening of the Broadway entertainment centre at Kandivli somewhere around mid-January next year. The multiplex will have four screens by the end of the current fiscal.

According to media reports, the US entertainment giant Time Warner and Australian company Hoyts are in talks with Indian real estate developers to set up a chain of multiplexes across the country. Industry sources said foreign entertainment players may favour forming partnerships with Indian realty companies since such alliances will help them get properties in prime locations in major cities.