Movie Mart goes pan-India; partners TNT for logistics

New Delhi, Jun 26 (UNI) With the movie rental business in the country pegged to touch Rs 2,000 crore by 2010, city-based Movie Mart today said it will expand its services pan-India.

''We were earlier centered only in Delhi and nearby areas.

Now, we will now deliver throughout the country. For this, we had tied up with Dutch logistics firm TNT,'' company CEO Rahul Mansharmani told a reporters here.

TNT will drop and pick up the DVDs from the subscriber's home at no additional cost, he added.

Movie Mart offers DVDs on rent and offers a 15 per cent discount on sales of DVDs as well.

The movie rental space is expanding with the coming in of players like Reliance ADA Group-owned BigFlix.

The concept has been drawn from the US-based NetFlix, which is one of the largest online movie rental firms.

The segment, which is largely run by local players, is expected to see stiff competition as people move to original print from pirated versions. ''We have an increasing number of subscribers who opt for the service as they have a cleaner print and good picture and sound quality. People are also realising that pirated prints can spoil their equipment,'' he said.

Movie Mart offers four subscription plans. For Rs 499 a month, the subscriber can order one movie at a time, that is up to 30 films a month. For Rs 599, one can order two films at a time, for Rs 799, three movies, while Rs 1199 will allow access to seven DVDs at a time. ''Our USP is that you can keep the DVDs for as long as you want,'' Mr Mansharmani said.

One has to, however, register through through credit card, otherwise there is a security deposit to be paid in case of cash, he added.

For delivery of the DVDs, for NCR its done the same day, while other metros and major cities have a one day waiting time. For smaller cities, it will take two days.

''We will set up offices in cities from where we get a good response, either through franchisee model or company-owned,'' he said.

The company will receive funds to the tune of Rs 50 crore from venture capitalists and private equity, though Mr Mansharmani refused to divulge any details.

The company expects about one million subscribers all over India in next five years time from the current 10,000.

UNI SR SG PM1807