From banquets to box office

Aerens is venturing into new areas, from Imax theatres to super speciality malls

If you thought you have seen the last of the specialised malls "" footwear and jewellery "" in India, think again. A full-fledged "celebration" mall is on its way to cater to the consumers in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

The mall, expected to stock relevant products and accessories for weddings, birthdays and other celebration events, is likely to have banquet facilities too for parties.

When it comes up next year, the celebration mall will be the second speciality mall from the Delhi-based real estate group Aerens Developers and Engineers Ltd. A few months back, Aerens launched Gold Souk, its jewellery mall in Gurgaon.

Clearly, the company, known for its commercial complexes, is moving into newer spaces. In the pipeline are two malls-cum-shopping complexes, one each in Vaishali (Ghaziabad) and Pitampura (Delhi), residential colonies and IMAX theatres.

"We've been in the real estate business for 40 years. We want to leverage our expertise in construction and start new ventures," says Sanjeev J Aeren, vice chairman, operations, Aerens group.

The business plan for the celebration mall includes creating a chain across the country in the next few years.

While celebration mall will be confined to north India, the Gold Souk will have seven outlets, including those in Ludhiana and Jaipur and the yet-to-be decided city in Kerala. Aerens is all set to start construction of a "furniture" mall spread over 6 lakh sq ft in Faridabad.

For now, however, the focus is on developing the group's Vaishali and Pitampura properties. With an investment of Rs 60 crore, Vaishali's mall is spread over 11 acre and will have cineplexes, drive-in food courts, amphitheatre and an amusement park.

Over the years, the group has also moved into housing complexes. It has already completed Empire Estates, a colony of 80 farmhouses, spread over 65 acres in Bhondsi, Haryana. Work has also started on a residential project in Panipat. A deal to build 650 apartments in the NCR is all set to be inked within this week.

The promoters of Aerens have also marked out entertainment as a high-growth sector. "We have got inputs from consultants to get into new businesses. While we have decided to move into the entertainment segment, travel and food industry is also on our radar. These sectors will be pushing growth in the future," says Aerens.

The group has tied up with IMAX, Canada to build and operate IMAX theatres across northern India. At 95X72 ft, IMAX screens are nearly 10 times bigger than the normal 35 mm screens. The theatres are equipped with advanced digital image and sound systems. The group is planning to build IMAX theatres in NCR (operational next year), Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Agra and Kolkata.

The group is not just venturing into newer fields, but also pruning in order to keep a tight control over expenses. Prakriti, the group's venture into landscape and horticulture development was wrapped up some time back. "It wasn't gelling with our core businesses," says Aerens.

With a total investment of Rs 300 crore in the market, the Aerens group is looking to do a turnover of Rs 200 crore by March, 2005. It closed the last fiscal at around Rs 150 crore.