US-based health and fitness chain Anytime Fitness said it plans to double the number of gyms in the country to 40 by the year end and will focus on satellite towns and tier-II cities.
"We have opened 20 units right now and we are projecting to have 20 more by the end of this year. So we would double our size," Anytime Fitness' Director of International Operations Eric Keller told PTI.
"Apart from Delhi and Mumbai, now we are looking the other underserved markets here to provide world-class workout centers," he added.
The company, which recently opened a new center at Model Town area of North Delhi, is planning to have five centers each in Gurgaon and Delhi.
Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore regions would contribute 10, while it is looking to open 10 gyms in Punjab.
"We are coming up majorly in Punjab, where we are looking at centers like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Chandigarh," Anytime Fitness India Managing Director Vikas Jain said.
The new centers would be mainly franchises, although the company is looking at other models as well.
On being asked about expected network of Anytime Fitness in the coming years, Keller said:" India has potential to have at least 100 of them in next 3-4 years... As franchise is more accepted and demand for our business model is growing, I do not see any reason that we would not have 500 gyms or more in next 15 years."
However, he added that availability of suitable real estate in large cities is a challenge, although growth potential is good for the next 5-10 years.
On its global performance, Keller said, "This was the first year when we opened more gyms outside North America than in that region. Now, we have over 3,000 units worldwide."
The company is seeing good growth in emerging economies, particularly South East Asia.
"We are also establishing ourself in the Latin American market," he said.
The Minnesota-headquartered firm had a revenue close to USD 1 billion in 2015. It has presence in around 20 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Oceania, Middle East and Asia.
