Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Balaji Tele plans to make small films

Balaji Telefilms, whose serials rank among India's top television shows, said it plans to begin making small-budget films for television.

Bombay-based Balaji was founded by yesteryear Hindi film star Jeetendra Kapoor, and his daughter Ekta masterminds the serials which keeps many Indians glued to their TV sets.

"The company is confident that its creative abilities can be utilised for making content-based entertainment movies, which has high potential on satellite channels," Balaji said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Balaji's chief executive officer Sanjay Dosi said that the company was looking at making medium budget movies, costing Rs 30-50 million, with more focus on content than stars and targeted at the weekend broadcast market.

Balaji produces 20 serials in Hindi and other regional languages, totalling 67 episodes a week. Its programmes are aired across various channels.

Star Plus, the flagship channel of the Indian unit of Rupert Murdoch's Star TV, airs four Balaji serials, two of which are immensely popular and contributed to a rise in the channel's ratings.

Balaji, which made an initial public offering of shares last year, saw its turnover rise 143 per cent to Rs 488.63 million in the year ended March 2001 on the back of a 136 per cent increase in programming hours to 1,457 from 616.50.

Its net profit was only marginally higher at Rs 43.55 million, compared to Rs 42.85 million, as it wrote off the entire production cost of serials in which it owns intellectual property rights. It had the option of writing off the costs over a longer period of time.

Balaji's shares were down 6.7 per cent at Rs 205 at the Bombay Stock Exchange in Wednesday afternoon trading, while the Sensex was down 0.32 per cent.

At Rs 205, its shares are up 57.6 per cent from the IPO offer price of Rs 130.

Tell us what you think of this report