(left) Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Ltd, Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR INOX Ltd
PVR-INOX plans to set-up single screen cinemas across northern India to cater to cinema-cravings of townies.Launching off single screens, dubbed ‘smart screens,’ PVR-INOX has finalised 6-7 non-metropolitan towns over the current financial year. The cinema halls will be ticketed at a 30-35 per cent reduction of the nearest metro city. The first cinema will open in Muzaffarnagar around August 11 nearby to Patna. This will be followed with screens popping up at Bharatpur in West Bengal, Rampur and Hiralpur in Uttar Pradesh, Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, two cities in Gujarat.“The next wave of consumerism, retail boom, is coming from tier-3 cities now. India is under-screened. When we went deeper into finding out the pockets, we realised it is actually these tier 3 cities. where the per capita screens are still very low,” said Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Ltd, citing data on how India currently has seven screens per million individuals as opposed to 100 screens in the US or 80 screens in China. Further, metros like Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, seem to be reaching a saturation point now, he said.The new concept will be rolled out primarily through a Franchise-Owned, Company-Operated model, enabling PVR INOX to partner with developers and entrepreneurs across India to accelerate the rollout of world-class cinema destinations. The company also expects the smart cinema average occupancy to be around 30 per cent, out-pacing the average occupancy across its current circuit at around 26 per cent, boosted by the cheaper pricing.Brand enthusiasmBijli also flagged great interest from brands, particularly FMCG brands, on the launch considering the “phenomenal and overwhelming response” in these regions.“Brands are very receptive. We had a ₹500 crore ad revenue last year, this year we are going to do about ₹560-600 crore ad revenue. We have a very aggressive target for ad sales. We have a very robust team that is going to garner these ad sales, roughly ad sales about 10-15 per cent of our total revenue,” he said.When asked about smart cinema’s performance to OTT competitors, Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR INOX said, “That’s a rear view approach of the two competing with each other. They’re coexisting. This debate is really hackneyed, and very stale.”Published on August 4, 2026
