Prime Focus to invest Rs 3,000 cr for 200-acre '??film city'?? in Mumbai

Mumbai, May 2 (PTI) Prime Focus on Friday announced a Rs 3,000 crore investment to set up a 'film city', housing an entire ecosystem related to entertainment.

The BSE-listed entertainment company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government to create the facility, which has the potential to create up to 2,500 jobs, on the sidelines of the ongoing WAVES 2025 event here.

Founder of the company Namit Malhotra told PTI that the film city will come up over a 200-acre area within the financial capital that the state government has committed to allocate.

Without disclosing the exact location where the facility will be housed, Malhotra said the state government has two or three options.

The financial capital already houses a film city run by the state government, which primarily hosts studios for film production and post-production and also talent training.

Prime Focus' film city will have a Ramayana-themed amusement park, hotels, residential accommodation facilities where families can stay for months.

Malhotra said at present, the company employs 10,000 people, including 7,000 within the country, and the film city will lead to additional employment.

The groundbreaking for the facility is expected to be done this year itself, and the company will also reach out to its investors for raising the resources.

Godrej Fund Management and Investment Advisers also announced an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in two phases to build a studio in suburban Panvel, which will create employment for 2,500 people by 2030 when fully ready.

The real estate private equity firm will invest Rs 500 crore as part of the first phase of the project, expected to start by 2027, and infuse another Rs 1,500 crore in the second phase, which will be ready by 2030.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was present at the signing of the MoU, said both projects will help the state's economy.

Apart from these two, Fadnavis also announced that the UK's York University and University of Western Australia will set up campuses in the 'third Mumbai' located nearby, where the state is planning to create an education hub.

The country's largest stock bourse, NSE, also announced the creation of an index dedicated to the media and entertainment sector, and christened it as 'NSE Waves Index'.

The index will have 43 scrips across the media and entertainment world listed on the bourse. PTI AA TRB

Source: PTI