Cinepolis to invest Rs 400 crore, add 160 screens across India

It will expand its footprint in top 60 cities, including Bengaluru, Pune, Guwahati, Hyderbad, Kolkata

Mexican multiplex chain Cinepolis will invest Rs 400 crore to open 160 cinema screens across the country by the end of next year.

"We will invest Rs 400 crore to open 160 screens by December 2017 in India. India is the second largest market for Cinepolis after Mexico," Cinepolis India Managing Director Javier Sotomayor told PTI.

The company will expand footprint in the top 60 cities.

"Our focus is to open screens in the list of 60 cities that we have identified. In the next six months, we will open screens in cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Guwahati, Hyderbad and Kolkata," he added.

Cinepolis, which opened its first screen in India in Amritsar in 2009, acquired Fun Cinemas in 2015 and is looking at opening new screens under both Cinepolis and Fun Cinemas brand.

When asked if the company is scouting for more acquisition opportunities to grow inorganically, he said, "Acquisition is a way to expand faster. We have analysed some of them (regional players) but they didn't make strategic sense. If an inorganic opportunity will come, we are happy to have a look at them but we are not obsessed with expanding."

The company today launched four new screens in Delhi in partnership with Unity Group. Cinepolis now operates 240 screens in India.

It has operations in 13 countries including the US, Brazil, Peru and Spain.