Riding High On Amusement Parks

I saved the capital to invest in Appu Ghar when I was an NRI. I had migrated to Sweden in 1968 at the age of 23, penniless but determined to make a living. After a visit to London where I discovered that many NRIs were making money by importing garments from southeast Asia and selling them to department stores in Europe, I decided to enter this line myself. Since I already knew the big garment buyers in Sweden, I had an advantage. The cost of living was so high in Sweden that I could make a 100 per cent profit on each readymade garment, while still offering competitive bulk rates to the big stores. So from 1973, I was buying garments from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong among other countries and supplying them straight to the department chain stores. In fact I was a major supplier for KF (Scandinavias largest chain of super stores).

 

My two sons were really responsible for the idea of Appu Ghar. Every weekend in Sweden, I would drive my family 300 km out to a wonderful amusement park called Lisaberg in Goteborg. I remembered my childhood days in Punjab and regretted that Id never been able to visit such a place. By the early eighties, I had enough savings to think seriously of setting up an amusement park in India.

In May 1984, I called up a contractor friend of mine in India, S K Chawla, and his first question was, What is a childrens amusement park?! The idea was alien in India at the time, since no amusement park machinery was made in the country and it was virtually impossible to import due to Fera restrictions. I told Chawla to look for land near Delhi, and assured him that I would put in the foreign exchange required to import the rides, along with my friend Narender Malik who was also in the garments business.

Chawla did some scouting and found that the Trade Fair Authority of India (TFAI) had reserved 20 acres of land next to New Delhis Pragati Maidan. TFAI was looking for proposals to develop the land as a childrens leisure park. No one had braved such a venture yet, because TFAI would only give out single-year leases to the developer and could withdraw the land at any time.

I was, however, determined that the project should come through. We made a proposal to TFAI, having identified an Italian company called IE Parks to import the equipment from. We had to assure them that all the foreign exchange requirements would come from outside India. The investment was about Rs 4 crore for 10 rides. Malik, Chawla and I covered it mainly from our own savings, setting up a company called International Amusement Ltd. The only loan we took from a bank was to meet the customs duty on the import of equipment.

The project soon came to Mrs Gandhis notice, who was delighted to find someone investing in a prosject for children. However, she was concerned that the park would turn out to be only for rich kids, so we were instructed to keep the entry fee at Rs 10. We out-did their pricing we kept the entry rates at Rs 1, 2 and 3 only!

We had planned to name the park International Wonderworld, but Mrs Gandhi suggested we make it something more Indian. She suggested Appu Ghar, after the Asian Games mascot. Im really happy that she took such a personal interest in our project. My greatest pride was when Appu Ghars inauguration was included in the list of Indias 10 most important events on Doordarshans New Years telecast of 1985.

Setting up Appu Ghar and International Amusement Ltd has not been a smooth ride. Keeping the park open to children of all economic classes meant that pricing was always a constraint. Frankly, its taken us 11 years to break even, although the park gets about 25-30 lakh visitors every year. Our sales turnover in the first year was about Rs 2.5 crore, and last year had only grown to Rs 5 crore. This is because accessibility, not profit, has been our main aim. We also give free entry to children from many slum schools about 18 lakh children have visited this way.

In 1993, Malik pulled out, and a year later, Chawla followed suit. They felt the returns were not worth it. I, however, felt that Appu Ghar was a child I could not abandon. In 1995, I took a serious look at how to re-vamp the park. We changed the pricing to allow a Rs 50 rate for unlimited rides, and cut down on employees. I also resurrected a proposal for a four-and-a-half acre water park for Rs 4 crore, with equipment from the Mumbai-based Oceanic Parks. In fact we plan to throw open the gates of this park on March 13 this year.

I have much hope for the future. My best reward is the smile I see on the faces of hundreds of visitors every day!

As told to Seema Nazareth