• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Divya Trivedi

Mumbai, May 6 After a delay of almost two years, global health club Fitness First is finally ready to make its India foray this year with a planned capital expenditure of Rs 200 crore.

“We took three years to look at the real estate market in India, which has been very volatile. Some correction is happening in the market now and so we are able to progress with our plans,” Mr Vikram Aditya Bhatia, Managing Director, Fitness First India Pvt Ltd, told Business Line.

Without going for a pan-India presence, the health club plans to set up six clubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore of roughly 20,000 sq. ft each in 2008. The international chain will introduce new formats of body pump, RPM (revolutions or rotations per minute) for joggers and other fitness features along with an aerobic studio of around 2,400 sq. ft.

“We plan to set up 15 to 17 clubs in the next three years. We are not in a hurry to set up clubs across India because the only competition we have is from local players like Talwalkars. Until now, there are not many foreign brands present in this space,” said Mr Bhatia. Each club will take around Rs 8-12 crore of investment, he said.

On an average, the clubs will be of 20,000 sq. ft each and located mainly in malls and mixed use establishments. Due to higher footfalls at malls, it will be quicker to educate people on fitness there, than in standalone centres, he explained.

The global chain is in talks with Mr Kishore Biyani’s real estate arm, Kshitij, to evaluate its properties under Market Cities. It is looking at leasing property from the Future Group for setting up clubs in its malls.

More Stories on : Strategy | Health

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
LG India bats to earn premium tag

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line