PVR INOX plans to add 200 screens in 2 years: ED Sanjeev Kumar Bijli
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Cinema exhibitor PVR INOX plans to add around 200 screens in two years at an investment of up to Rs 400 crore, its Executive Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said on Wednesday.The company's expansion plans will majorly focus on South India, followed by smaller cities and towns in the next two years, Bijli told PTI in an interview."This financial year, 2025-26, we have about 100 screen openings planned, and out of which we have opened about 20 already in the first quarter, and we have another 82 to go. So, basically, we are on track to open about 100 screens this year," he said when asked about the company's expansion plans.Out of the 100 screens, 40 screens are in South India, including Hyderabad, Bangalore and Hubli. At the same time, some cinemas will come up in Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurugram, and some smaller towns like Siliguri, Jabalpur, Leh and Gangtok."It is a bit of a mixed bag, but 40 per cent of this (expansion) still remains in South India, and about 20 per cent in smaller towns," Bijli said.Even going forward, he said, "We have quite a few cinemas (lined up) for 2026-27 as well. We have 80 screens opening (planned), but we can easily get it stretched to about 100...but visibility (as of now) is of 80 screens and out of that also about 40 per cent is again in South India".When asked about the investment for the expansion, he said, "Roughly, if you look at this year, if we're opening about 100 screens, then an average screen costs about Rs 3.5 crore per screen. So, that comes to about Rs 350 crore. If we assume that 50 per cent of that is coming from a combination of FOCO (franchise owned company operated) and asset light, then our contribution would be half at about Rs 175 to 200 crore".For 200 screens that the company has planned, its investment will be around Rs 350-400 crore.Bijli said that after adding 200 screens in the next two years, PVR INOX will have "close to 2,000 screens" in total.As part of the company's expansion in South India, PVR INOX will open a four-screen property later this week in Hyderabad, which will take its total screen count in Telangana to 110. It has lined up a total of 26 new screens to be added in the state in FY26."Telangana is a very significant market. It has always done very well for us because of the very strong content from Telangana. Telugu films are extremely loved and accepted. The propensity to watch movies there is very high," he noted.There are still pockets in Hyderabad that do not have a good multiplex.There are certain catchments which are unserviced, he said, adding that "we are excited about expanding into the city of Hyderabad, which is a growing city".
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The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the government-backed real-time payment system, has truly transformed how money moves across the nation and is now gaining global per the ACI Worldwide Report 2024, in 2023, an astounding 49% of all global real-time payment transactions originated in India, highlighting its leadership in digital payment growth figures are staggering: UPI has gone from a modest Rs 707.93 crore worth of transactions in December 2016 to a colossal Rs 23,24,699.91 crore by December 2024, as per NPCI monumental leap reflects its deep penetration, now connecting 65 million merchants and serving 491 million individuals, more than the populations of the US and UK expansion into seven countries, including key markets like UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius, further solidifies its position as a global payment leader. 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Vendors selling unprocessed produce directly sourced from farmers usually don't require GST registration. However, with UPI payments now offering a full digital trail, tax authorities are using that data to estimate turnover, dragging many unregistered vendors into the tax India, a broad range of essential goods and services are GST-exempt to keep them affordable and includes unprocessed agricultural products like fruits, vegetables, unbranded cereals and pulses, milk, curd, honey, fresh meat, fish and eggs. Non-food exemptions cover areas like healthcare (clinical services, ambulance), education (school and university fees), public transport (non-AC buses, trains, metro), basic utilities (electricity, domestic water supply), certain financial services (loan and deposit interest) and charitable or religious carve-outs are meant to shield vulnerable consumers and support core sectors of the Gowda is far from 13,000 small vendors across Karnataka, including milk booths, tea stalls and fruit sellers, have reportedly received similar GST these demands are predicated on UPI payments that, collectively, pushed their turnover above the standard GST registration threshold of Rs 40 lakh per annum for goods or Rs 20 lakh for of these vendors operate on razor-thin margins of 5% to 10%.As Abhilash Shetty, a representative of the Karnataka Pradesh Street Vendors Association, told ET, "Small businesses run with a margin of 5 to 10 per cent... The tax (GST) along with other things like penalty, comes to 50% and it is not possible for the vendors to pay such a huge tax with this. We request the government to interfere and give relaxation to the small vendors in this matter..."Adding to their distress, much of the digital inflow flagged by tax authorities often includes personal payments, loans or family transfers, not strictly business revenue. This misclassification of income further inflates the perceived turnover, leading to inflated and erroneous tax demands, as highlighted by multiple isn't about traders willfully evading the law; it's about a massive segment of the economy not knowing they were suddenly subject to Shakuntala, who represents many of these vendors, speaking to ET, criticised the government for failing to educate small vendors about their tax obligations when registering their businesses."If taxes are being imposed, why were they not educated first?... 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Offer the option of composition, that detailed working should be done.'Many are deliberately choosing cash, not because it's more convenient, but because it feels safer. The once-celebrated "Digital India" ecosystem, especially in bustling urban markets, is now being treated with mounting pressure has also spilled into the political arena. 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This digital trail provides verifiable transaction history, crucial for credit Union Budget 2025-26 also acknowledges the critical need to improve credit access for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which often rely on informal proposed measures like increasing credit guarantee cover for micro and small enterprises (from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore) and a new customized Credit Card scheme, aiming to provide Rs 5 lakh credit to 10 lakh micro enterprises in the first year (Press Information Bureau, Union Budget 2025-26, February 4, 2025).Beyond credit, schemes like the e-Shram Portal (registering unorganised workers for social security), Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM), and PM SVANidhi (micro-loans for street vendors) are all part of a broader formalisation strategy, aiming to register, insure and empower informal workers (Plutus IAS, January 22, 2025).However, if digital trails are perceived as surveillance tools and tax traps rather than credit passports, the very businesses meant to benefit from formalisation and financial inclusion will start opting the immediate notices originated from state-level GST departments, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), India's direct tax body responsible for income tax, is undoubtedly monitoring this availability of granular UPI data now allows for unprecedented matching of income across various platforms. This means that even small vendors who diligently file their Income Tax Returns (ITR), like Shankar Gowda from Haveri, are now seeing their digital activity scrutinised like never the CBDT might have focused more on high-value individuals and corporations. But in the era of deep data, even "thelawalas" (street vendors) can no longer escape the digital commercial taxes department itself stated that notices are issued only where UPI transaction data since 2021-22 showed turnover above the GST threshold, indicating a significantly more data-driven approach to identify potential taxpayers, The Economic Times reported on July this continues, the government might face a profound paradox: the very push to formalise the economy may inadvertently drive significant parts of it further promise of "Digital India" was inclusion, convenience and empowerment, not intimidation and an unexpected tax burden for those operating at the vendors come to associate UPI with tax trouble and punitive demands, the country could possibly see a rollback of hard-won gains in digitisation and financial persistent rise in Currency in Circulation, coupled with the "No UPI, only cash" trend, suggests that the informal sector, despite the conveniences of digital payments, strongly desires cash to remain king for its perceived anonymity and simplicity.
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