Essel Group's E-City Ventures plans to add 350 screens in FY15

E-City Ventures, the cinema exhibition and retail real estate arm of the Essel Group, plans to add 350 screens this fiscal at an investment of around Rs 40 crore, a top company official said here today.
While E-City Ventures runs the single-screen arm of the movie exhibition business under the E-City Digital Cinema besides its mall business, its digital movie multiplex arm is run under the brand Fun Cinemas, which operates 87 screens.
The Essel Group is a Zee Group firm promoted by media baron Subhash Chandra Goel and also runs the Essel World brand of theme parks.
"The cinema exhibition industry has changed dramatically. The trend of digitisation has been a game changer benefiting the entire value chain of the industry. We have been an active player in digitisation of screens and now plan to add another 350 screens during this financial year," E-City Ventures chief executive Atul Goel told PTI here.

E-City Digital Cinemas, which has been buying out single screens and refurbishing them with digital technology, currently operates more than 730 screens.
"We will need an investment of around Rs 40 crore to add 350 screens across the country," he said.

The company also plans to add around 10 screens this fiscal under its Fun Cinemas brand which currently runs 87 screens across 19 cities.
Ten of such screens are expected to come up at cities like Kolkata, Ghaziabad and Chandigarh, he said.
E-City Ventures is the holding company for Zee Group's entertainment brands, like the lifestyle retail malls brand Fun Republic, multiplexes brand Fun Cinemas, film distribution company E-City Digital, as well as the mall management company called E-City Property Management and Services.

"We expect to garner around Rs 350 crore revenues this fiscal, out of which Fun Multiplex, which is the holding company of Fun Cinemas, and E-City Digital will be the major contributors. We will be adding another mall this year, taking the count to five, after Mumbai, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Coimbatore," he said, adding it is also looking at Kanpur as well as Jaipur to set up malls.