In 1997, going to the movies in India meant dealing with a single screen, broken seats, terrible sound, and queues that stretched around the block. The theatre experience had not meaningfully changed in decades. Most urban families had stopped going altogether.
Ajay Bijli changed that. He opened India’s first multiplex at Saket, New Delhi, in June 1997, converting the old Anupam Cinema into a four-screen theatre with air conditioning, proper seating, a functioning sound system, and multiple showtimes. Indians had never seen anything like it.
What Bijli started as Priya Village Roadshow, a joint venture with Australia’s Village Roadshow, eventually became PVR Cinemas. Five years later, INOX Leisure opened its first screens in Pune and Vadodara, backed by the Gujarat Fluorochemicals Group. For the next two decades, PVR and INOX competed aggressively across every major city in India. Then, in February 2023, they merged.
The merged entity, PVR INOX, now operates 1,745 screens across 352 properties in 111 cities. It is the fifth-largest listed multiplex chain in the world by screen count, and the largest by a significant margin in India. This is the story of how two rivals built an industry and then became one.
PVR: The Company That Invented India’s Multiplex Era
Ajay Bijli did not set out to build a cinema chain. He inherited his family’s Priya Cinema in Delhi in 1988 and spent years trying to understand why nobody wanted to come.
The problem was not the films. The problem was the experience. Single-screen theatres in India at the time were uncomfortable, poorly maintained, and offered no control over what played or when. Bijli renovated Priya Cinema into a cleaner, better-quality space and started screening Hollywood films. It worked. Encouraged, he reached out to Village Roadshow, an Australian media company looking to enter India, and formed a 60:40 joint venture in 1995.
The first PVR multiplex at Saket opened in 1997 with four screens and triggered something the industry had not anticipated. Urban middle-class families, who had stopped attending single screens, came back in large numbers. The concept of watching a film in a clean, comfortable, professionally managed environment with multiple screen options was genuinely new in India.
What made PVR’s early model different from everything else in Indian exhibition:
- Multiple screens under one roof: Customers could choose from different films and showtimes, rather than being locked into one show at one time.
- Air conditioning as standard: Not an upgrade, not an extra charge, standard across every PVR screen from opening day.
- Food and beverage as a revenue line: PVR introduced the concept of a proper F&B counter with popcorn, nachos, and beverages as a structured revenue stream, not an afterthought.
- Computerised ticketing: Box office computerisation replaced manual systems, reducing queues and enabling advance booking.
- Mall anchoring strategy: PVR became the preferred anchor tenant for Indian mall developers, giving it preferential lease terms and first access to prime locations across every new mall project.
Village Roadshow exited the venture in November 2002. PVR became a fully Indian company, listed on NSE and BSE in 2006 after raising â‚ą110 crore at â‚ą225 per share. That listing gave Bijli the capital to move from a Delhi-centric business to a genuinely national chain.
The Acquisition Playbook
PVR’s growth from 2006 onward was not organic. It was acquisition-led, disciplined, and consistent.
In 2012, PVR acquired Cinemax for â‚ą395 crore, adding 135 screens across Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets and re-establishing its lead over INOX in total screen count. In 2016, it acquired DLF’s DT Cinemas for â‚ą500 crore, consolidating its dominance in Delhi-NCR. In 2018, it acquired Chennai-based SPI Cinemas, the operator of the iconic Sathyam Cinemas brand, for â‚ą850 crore, its largest acquisition before the INOX merger, and its entry into South India’s most discerning film market.
The key acquisitions that built PVR into a national chain:
- Cinemax (2012) for â‚ą395 crore: Added 135 screens and took PVR into Tier 2 cities including Bhopal, Raipur, and Ranchi.
- DT Cinemas (2016) for â‚ą500 crore: Consolidated Delhi-NCR dominance and added premium locations in DLF malls.
- SPI Cinemas (2018) for â‚ą850 crore: Gave PVR the Sathyam Cinemas brand in Tamil Nadu and a foothold in South India’s premium film market.
By January 2023, before the INOX merger was effective, PVR operated 900 screens across 181 properties in 78 cities.
Premium Formats as a Margin Strategy
As PVR scaled, it recognised early that not all screens are equal. A standard screen generates a fixed ticket revenue. A premium format screen, properly positioned, can charge two to three times the average ticket price for the same runtime.
PVR invested aggressively in premium formats throughout its expansion, making format differentiation a core part of its margin strategy.
PVR’s premium format portfolio:
- IMAX: Long-term partnership with IMAX Corporation for large-format screens; PVR was among the first Indian exhibitors to bring IMAX at scale.
- 4DX: Motion seat technology with environmental effects including wind, water, and scent, positioned at a significant premium over standard tickets.
- Director’s Cut: Ultra-premium lounges in select locations with luxury recliner seating, private bar service, and menu-driven F&B, targeting the top of the income pyramid.
- Gold Class: Premium seating tier between standard and Director’s Cut, targeted at upper-middle-class multiplex audiences.
- Luxe: Acquired through the INOX merger, an 11-screen premium property in Chennai’s Phoenix Marketcity.
INOX: The Challenger That Never Stopped Growing
INOX Leisure was incorporated in November 1999 as a subsidiary of the INOX Group, the Gujarat Fluorochemicals conglomerate. It opened its first screens in Pune and Vadodara in 2002, just as PVR was establishing national ambitions.
From the start, INOX positioned itself as the quieter, more premium alternative to PVR. Where PVR was aggressive and acquisition-hungry, INOX built carefully and consistently, prioritising properties in established malls, investing in screen quality, and building a loyal base in cities where PVR was either weak or absent.
INOX went public in 2006, raising â‚ą150 crore at â‚ą120 per share with Gujarat Fluorochemicals selling a portion of its stake. The listing enabled the same expansion capital that PVR had used, and INOX moved steadily across Maharashtra, West Bengal, and South India.
How INOX built its national footprint:
- 89 Cinemas acquisition (2006): A share-swap deal that gave INOX nine multiplexes in West Bengal and Assam, building its East India presence before PVR arrived in force.
- Satyam Cineplexes acquisition: Purchased for â‚ą182 crore, giving INOX screens in Delhi NCR and Mysuru.
- Organic expansion in South India: INOX built steadily in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh without depending on big-ticket acquisitions.
- Luxe (2022): Acquired Jazz Cinemas’ 11-screen premium Luxe property in Chennai’s Phoenix Marketcity just months before the PVR merger was finalised.
By December 2022, INOX operated 170 multiplexes with 722 screens across 74 cities.
The Brand That Built Loyalty Without Noise
INOX’s brand strategy was the inverse of PVR’s. PVR was loud, acquisitive, and constantly in the headlines. INOX was consistent, quality-focused, and relied on word of mouth and repeat footfall over aggressive marketing.
In key markets like Pune, Kolkata, and Bengaluru, INOX often commanded stronger loyalty than PVR among regular moviegoers. Its properties were generally cleaner and more consistently maintained. Its staff training was tighter. And crucially, its pricing was perceived as slightly more reasonable than PVR at comparable format levels.
Why INOX built the brand equity that made it an equal merger partner:
- Consistent quality over aggressive growth: Screen quality and customer experience were prioritised over raw screen count.
- Stronger position in East India: Cities like Kolkata and Bhubaneswar were INOX strongholds that PVR could not easily replicate.
- Conservative balance sheet: INOX’s debt levels at merger were lower than PVR’s, making it a cleaner business to integrate.
- Cultural credibility in South India: INOX’s Bengaluru and Chennai properties had earned trust in markets that proved difficult for PVR to crack without an acquisition.
The 2023 Merger: One Chain, One Dominant Position
On March 27, 2022, PVR and INOX announced an all-stock merger. The ratio: every 10 INOX shares would be exchanged for 3 PVR shares. INOX promoters would hold 16.66% of the combined entity; PVR promoters would hold 10.62%. Ajay Bijli would serve as Managing Director of the merged company. Pavan Kumar Jain of the INOX Group would become non-executive Chairman.
The NCLT Mumbai approved the merger in January 2023. It became effective from February 6, 2023. PVR INOX was born.
The combined entity immediately became the fifth-largest listed multiplex chain globally by screen count, and the largest in India by a significant distance from its nearest competitor, Cinépolis India.
What the merger created in combined scale:
- 1,700+ screens at the time of merger, growing to 1,745 screens across 352 properties in 111 cities by June 2025.
- Fifth-largest listed multiplex chain globally by screen count, the only Indian company on that list.
- Debt consolidation: Net debt at merger stood at â‚ą1,430 crore, which the company has worked systematically to reduce, down to â‚ą952 crore by March 2025.
- Synergy realisation: Combined procurement, shared overheads, and consolidated advertising inventory began generating cost efficiencies within the first year.
- Distribution leverage: Combined screen count gives PVR INOX significantly greater bargaining power with Bollywood, Hollywood, and regional film distributors over screen allocation and revenue share terms.
The Post-Merger Challenges
The merger created scale. It did not immediately create smooth sailing.
FY2024 was a difficult year. Bollywood delivered a weak content slate in the first half, with several big-budget releases underperforming at the box office. The OTT streaming window had compressed, films were reaching platforms faster than before, and some audiences were choosing to wait. Admissions fell 10% in FY25 compared to FY24. Revenue from operations declined 8% to â‚ą5,442 crore in FY25. Net loss widened to â‚ą277 crore in FY25 from â‚ą35.7 crore in FY24.
The bright spots were structural rather than cyclical. Food and beverage spend per head (SPH) grew 1% even as admissions fell, demonstrating that the customers coming to theatres were spending more per visit. Advertising revenue remained sticky. And Q3 FY25, powered by Pushpa 2’s extraordinary box office run, the film alone accounted for 36% of Q3 box office collections, showed what a strong content cycle looks like for PVR INOX. Q3 FY25 net profit came in at â‚ą35.9 crore, up 180% year on year.
The Business of Selling More Than Tickets
Ticket revenue is the headline number for any cinema chain. For PVR INOX, it is not the most strategically interesting revenue line.
Food and beverage, advertising, and premium format upgrades are the three levers that determine whether a multiplex is profitable or not. A customer who buys a standard ticket generates a defined box office revenue split with the distributor, typically around 50:50. A customer who also buys a large popcorn combo keeps the entire F&B margin with the exhibitor.
This is why PVR INOX’s average F&B spend per head, currently â‚ą140 in Q3 FY25, is watched as closely as the average ticket price of â‚ą258-259. Together, they determine revenue per admission, which is the number that actually captures the health of the business.
How PVR INOX generates revenue beyond box office splits:
- Food and beverage: The highest-margin revenue line; PVR INOX has invested in menu diversification including 4700BC popcorn as a standalone F&B brand.
- Advertising: Screen advertising, lobby branding, and digital inventory sold to FMCG, automobile, and financial services brands. Cinema advertising reached â‚ą900 crore in 2024, up 20% over 2023.
- Premium format premium: IMAX, 4DX, and Director’s Cut tickets carry significantly higher ATPs, improving revenue per admission without requiring additional footfall.
- Distribution income: PVR INOX Pictures distributes Hollywood films and select Indian productions, earning distribution margins on films it does not exhibit.
- Food court income: PVR INOX operates food courts in select mall properties through its Devyani International joint venture.
The Capital-Light Pivot
The most significant strategic shift at PVR INOX post-merger is the pivot from a capital-heavy acquisition model to a capital-light expansion strategy.
Before the merger, both PVR and INOX grew primarily through large acquisitions funded by debt. The post-merger balance sheet made it clear that the debt-funded acquisition model was not sustainable. Under Managing Director Ajay Bijli, the company announced a pivot: new screens would be added through revenue-sharing and management contract arrangements rather than owned or leased properties. The target is 90 to 100 new screens annually on this capital-light basis, with a specific focus on South India, where penetration relative to population remains significantly below North India.
What the capital-light strategy targets:
- 90-100 new screens per year without requiring proportional capital investment or additional debt.
- South India expansion: PVR INOX opened its first South India megaplex at Bengaluru’s Phoenix Mall of Asia in April 2024 and is targeting significant screen additions across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
- Debt reduction to â‚ą850 crore: From â‚ą1,300 crore in March 2024 to â‚ą850 crore by June 2025, a consistent deleveraging trajectory.
- Real estate monetisation: â‚ą136.4 crore generated in FY24 through monetisation of owned cinema real estate assets.
- 200-screen target in 2 years: Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, confirmed plans to add 200 screens within two years, with South India as the primary geography.
Technology, OTT, and the Relevance Question
The most persistent question about PVR INOX is one that every multiplex chain globally has had to answer since 2020: why come to the theatre when content reaches OTT platforms within weeks?
Ajay Bijli’s answer has been consistent. OTT is home entertainment. Cinema is social entertainment. They are not the same product. The experience of watching a film in an IMAX auditorium with 700 people is structurally different from watching the same film on a television screen, and a meaningful segment of the Indian audience will continue to pay a premium for that experience.
The data supports the thesis selectively. When content is strong, as it was with Pushpa 2, RRR, Jawan, KGF Chapter 2, and Oppenheimer, PVR INOX properties fill up and admission numbers spike. The problem is that strong content is not consistent. The Indian box office in 2024 delivered more disappointments than blockbusters, and the OTT window compression meant audiences for mediocre films simply waited.
What PVR INOX has done to strengthen its competitive position against OTT:
- Premium format investment: IMAX, 4DX, and Dolby Atmos deliver an experience that OTT cannot replicate at home regardless of screen size.
- India’s first standalone IMAX theatre: PVR INOX refurbished the 86-year-old Eros Cinema in Churchgate, Mumbai into India’s first standalone IMAX with 4K laser projection, launched in February 2024.
- Cinema Lovers Day: Monthly discount ticketing events designed to maintain habitual moviegoing among price-sensitive audiences.
- Movie Passport subscription: Loyalty and subscription programme to drive repeat admissions beyond blockbuster weekends.
- Live content: PVR INOX live-streamed ICC Cricket World Cup matches in 2023, demonstrating that screens can serve entertainment categories beyond films.
Q1 FY2026: Signs of Recovery
PVR INOX’s Q1 FY2026 results, covering the April to June 2025 quarter, showed signs of the recovery the market had been waiting for.
Revenue from operations jumped 11.72% year on year to â‚ą1,858.9 crore. Net profit surged to â‚ą105.7 crore, up 995% year on year from the same quarter in FY25. Net profit margins reached 5.69%. The improvement was driven by a stronger content slate in Q1 FY26 compared to the weak quarter a year earlier, combined with the cost rationalisation programme the company had been executing through FY25.
Advertising revenue grew 17.3% to â‚ą109 crore in Q1 FY26, demonstrating that the cinema advertising market remains intact and growing even when admissions are under pressure.
The Bottom Line
PVR INOX’s story is, at its core, the story of Indian consumption upgrading over three decades. Ajay Bijli opened a four-screen multiplex in South Delhi in 1997 and discovered that the Indian middle class was desperate for a better experience than what the market was offering. Everything that followed, the acquisitions, the premium formats, the technology investments, the INOX merger, has been built on that original insight.
The PVR INOX cinema chain now operates at a scale that has no domestic parallel. 1,745 screens. 111 cities. â‚ą5,950 crore in annual revenue. The fifth-largest listed multiplex operator in the world.
The challenge for the next chapter is not scale. It is profitability. FY25 net losses of â‚ą277 crore, driven by weak content and OTT headwinds, remind the market that a cinema chain’s economics are ultimately determined by the quality of the films that studios choose to make. PVR INOX can build the infrastructure. It cannot write the scripts.
What built PVR INOX into the business it is today:
- The 1997 multiplex launch: Opening India’s first multiplex at Saket created an entirely new category of entertainment in the Indian market.
- The acquisition discipline: PVR’s acquisition of Cinemax, DT Cinemas, and SPI Cinemas built national coverage faster than organic growth could have achieved.
- INOX’s brand patience: Two decades of quality-over-quantity positioning gave INOX the brand equity to be an equal partner rather than a junior acquisition target in 2023.
- Premium format investment: IMAX, 4DX, and Director’s Cut created high-margin revenue lines that standard screen economics cannot deliver.
- The capital-light pivot: Switching from debt-funded acquisition growth to revenue-sharing expansion is the strategic shift that will determine whether FY26 marks a genuine recovery.
- F&B and advertising as the real business: Ticket revenue shares the box office with distributors. Food, advertising, and premium formats keep all the margin with PVR INOX.
The Indian multiplex industry will continue to grow as urban incomes rise, mall infrastructure expands into Tier 2 cities, and studios learn to produce content that drives audiences away from their streaming subscriptions and back into seats. PVR INOX, with 1,745 screens already in place, is positioned to capture the majority of that growth. Whether the balance sheet and the content calendar cooperate is the question the next few quarters will answer.
