The Hindu Business Line : Inox plans more multiplexes

Comfortable seating, great audio and visual quality, and good food - that is what Inox Leisure, the film exhibition company, is betting on to attract viewers.

Inox, which is opening its 13th multiplex in the city tomorrow, hopes to set up 18 more multiplexes and 67 screens in 2007-08.

With the opening of the multiplex at the Chennai Citi Center, Inox will have 48 screens and 14,277 seats in 12 cities.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Alok Tandon, Chief Operating Officer, Inox Leisure Ltd, said the company was looking at a pan-India presence. The 18 multiplexes next year mean 67 more screens and over 19,416 seats.

According to Mr Tandon, in a country where movie-going is a major pastime and three billion tickets are sold each year, it is `under-screened.' There are just 13,000 screens meaning less than 13 screens for each million citizens.

Ticket costs

However, for Inox, the Tamil Nadu Government's recent order setting a ceiling on ticket costs is a bitter pill. Responding to questions on the impact of this, Mr Tandon said that Inox would charge Rs 120 a ticket, much lower than planned. It has also set aside 10 per cent of the seats at Rs 10 a ticket, which is a mandatory requirement. Inox invests about Rs 1.75 crore to Rs 3 crore a screen and targets a breakeven of less than five years. Inox has invested Rs 11-12 crore here and it would take longer to recover the costs.

Inox tickets elsewhere could go up to Rs 190 and the average ticket cost at an Inox multiplex was about Rs 150, he said.

Its multiplex here has four screens and 909 seats.

He said that the emphasis was on safety — the projector rooms were fitted with modern fire-fighting equipment and the material that have gone into the seats are fire retardant. It is the first multiplex to co-develop a software called `Showbizz', that enables online booking and mobile booking of tickets.

Good food is an integral part of the movie going experience. Refuel, Inox's own branded food counters will offer a varied fare..

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