Cinépolis to invest Rs 800 crore in Indian operation by 2017

Hyderabad: Movie exhibitor, Cinépolis is planning to invest around Rs 800 crore in India to increase the up to 400 from the present 84 in 13 cities

Alejandro Ramirez Magana, CEO, of Cinépolis (Global) stated that after the expansion, the seating capacity will go up to 88,000 from the current 17,600.

"We plan to have 400 screens all over the country by the end of 2017. And each screen will be set up with an average cost of Rs 2.5 crore. We have already opened 84 screens and remaining 316 screens will be open by 2017 ," added Magana.

He also claimed that the company has invested USD 40 million in its operations and achieved operational break-even in 2012. "We achieved operation break-even in 2012. Currently, revenues contribute less than 5 per cent of the global revenues. We expect this to go up with the expansion plans we have on cards,"added Magana. Currently, the movie exhibitor has 40 per cent occupancy rate on an average across its screens in India. Worldwide it has over 5.7 lakh seats.

Javier Sotomayor, Managing Director, Cinépolis India, said Cinépolis pioneers in introducing the multiplex culture in regional India. "We have launched first multiplexes at Patna, Hubli, and Amritsar and in 2014, we will be bringing the Cinépolis experience to Kochi and Vijayawada among 8 upcoming multiplexes," added Sotomayor.

Cinépolis has 22 operational screens in South India. The company has been instrumental in augmenting the multiplex culture in Hubli and Mangalore and launched one of the first multiplexes in these cities. Its multiplexes are currently operational in Hyderabad and Bangalore also.