PVR Ltd., the retail entertainment company, is planning to open 500 screens across the country in three years.
For this financial year, the company plans to open 60 screens in cities including Surat, Kochi, Pune, Bhopal, Vijaywada, Mysore, New Delhi and Jalandhar.
"We are planning to invest Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) for 500 screens in the next three years. We are also looking at expanding our production portfolio. This year, we have an aim of 200 screens and will launch in many new cities like Surat, Pune and Kochi and a few existing ones like Delhi. Also, we have two films coming up from our production house this year," Sanjeev Kumar, joint managing director, PVR Ltd said on the sidellines of the launch of the group's first multiplex in Ahmedabad at Acropolis Mall.
The multiplex has a seating capacity of 1349 seats, 3D screens and a screen dedicated to regional movies. PVR has also tweaked its food offering at the multiplex in Ahmedabad to make it an all-vegetarian affair, considering the sentiment in Gujarat. The tickets are priced in categories of normal, prime and gold.
The group currently has a talkies model in Vadodara and is looking at Rajkot and Vadodara for opening screens in the near future. "While we are planning to open a multiplex in Surat this year, we are looking at Rajkot and Vadodara to open multiplexes in the near future. Having learnt that Rajkot has good potential, we are exploring that market of Gujarat. We have invested Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) for the multiplex in Ahmedabad and expect pay-back in three to four years," Kumar added.
With this launch, PVR now has a total of 136 screens in 18 cities across the country. PVR is a leading chain of multiplex in India. The company also operates a film distribution and production business through its subsidiary PVR Pictures.
