PVR Inox profit triples as Bollywood spy hit ‘Dhurandhar’ drives footfall

BENGALURU: PVR Inox’s quarterly profit nearly tripled on Thursday, driven by a robust slate of Indian film releases and recent tax cuts that drew more moviegoers into its cinemas.

Revenues at India’s largest multiplex operator climbed nearly 10% in the three months ended December 31, helped by higher footfalls and ticket prices as well as income from sale of food and beverages. That eclipsed a 2.5% rise in costs.

Footfall increased nearly 9% on-year in the reported quarter, driven by the Bollywood spy blockbuster “Dhurandhar”, which PVR Inox said made a record 10 billion rupees ($110 million) in overall sales, helping gross box-office collections rise 13% in 2025.

The multiplex chain is betting on the film’s sequel to boost sales in January-March. “The industry has evolved where sequels end up doing as well as the first ones,” Executive Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli told Reuters in a post-earnings interview.

The current quarter has a “good slate of films” and the response in January has been “satisfactory”, Bijli said, adding that he expects box-office collections to grow 14%-15% in 2026.

PVR Inox, created by merging labels PVR and Inox in 2023, has sought to raise footfall by offering discounted tickets, showing older hit films, and plans to convert some of its theaters into destinations for dining, gaming and co-working.

The sector is emerging from a years-long slump in attendance due to weak urban spending, an uneven slate of blockbusters and growing competition from streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon’s Prime.

PVR Inox’s consolidated profit rose to 957 million rupees ($10.6 million) in the December quarter from 359 million rupees a year earlier. Profit margins expanded to 5% in the December quarter from 2% a year ago.

The firm took a one-time charge of 446 million rupees related to India’s new labour laws.

Average ticket prices and food and beverage spends per head climbed by about 4% each in the quarter. Bijli expects food and beverage spends per head to grow in the range of 4%-5% in the current quarter.