SIDDHARTH AND ISHITA JAIN
‘The content pie is increasing. So if you see the large media companies, whether it is the newspapers, television, cinema houses, everybody is growing. How? Look at Avengers – it was the third largest movie of all time in India across all languages!’
– Siddharth Jain
They are young, winsome, energetic and idealistic. Meeting Siddharth and Ishita Jain in the glamourous Inox boardroom at the swank Ceejay House in South Mumbai, one feels guilty being even five minutes off schedule. Siddharth swears by punctuality, and when one listens to the scale of his interests and achievements, and later, Ishita’s own multidimensional commitments, one is not surprised. We start right at the top, the business of cinema, which has made Inox a top-of-mind brand, when we learn that the name has its origins in a very different family business!
ON CREATING A LUXE CINEMATIC CULTURE…
The Inox multiplex chain today consists of 583 screens across 124 properties in 67 cities. And still growing…!
“Yes, we are the fastest growing cinema chain in India. Initially, we didn’t recognise the errors we made. We didn’t grow aggressively or acquire cinemas rapidly, being a conservative family. We don’t believe in getting into excessive debt – we’ve seen the demise and fall of all those people. We believe in taking only one-is-to-one debt. Only what we earn per year, is the amount of debt we take. However,
