Physical fitness has never come naturally to a large number of Indians. Body forms in ancient sculptures are well-endowed and sensuous, certainly not lean and fit.

And that India is the diabetes capital of the world surprises few. You could blame it on the weather here, which makes outdoor exercise a tough challenge during most parts of the year.

However, like other national traits (cricket and films included), the physical fitness scenario in India too is seeing a change, though at a slower pace.

And it has caught the eye of global fitness chains. Fitness First, which claims to be the world's largest, is ready to set up shop in India. Its first club (this is what it calls its gyms) has come up at Gurgaon in the suburbs of Delhi. The second in downtown Delhi will open later this month. Mumbai and Bangalore come next.

Vikram Aditya Bhatia, the managing director of Fitness First India Private Ltd, says that each of these will be a large-format gym. The one at Connaught Place in New Delhi will be spread over 26,000 square feet, for instance. The company plans to invest $3-4 million (Rs 12-16 crore) in each club. All told, it has plans to invest Rs 200 crore over the next three years in India.

"We want to provide fitness where you live, where you work and where you transit. Our USP is scale, comfort and service," says Bhatia, who along with other senior staff, owns 17 per cent stock in the company.

That may be fine, but Bhatia has lost the first mover's advantage to others like Gold Gym and the homegrown Talwalkar's. Both are now well-established brands in the market with a rapidly-expanding presence. The market might be nascent (a McKinsey study pegs the figure at around Rs 2,000 crore per annum, though Bhatia feels it could be closer to Rs 2,400 crore), but the competition is already stiff.

Bhatia, a keen sportsman who played tennis at the national level, says what will help the chain is its value-for-money proposition.

"What we will give is five-star fitness at affordable prices," he says. The monthly membership, which incidentally also allows access to any of the Fitness First clubs anywhere in India, will be approximately Rs 2,600 plus taxes.

Globally, Fitness First has managed to build scale, though it started only in 1992 with one gym at Bournemouth, the UK. It now runs over 540 clubs and has a turnover of $1.6 billion.

Bhatia's challenge is to replicate it in India. All he needs to do is to get Indians to sweat it out on Fitness First tread-mills and bench presses. Did we hear you say tall order?