No fairy tale ending seen just as yet for Disneyland India

If you were waiting for a Disneyland in India, don't hold your breath. The entertainment giant says television will be key to its Indian plans. CNBC-TV18's Sajeet Manghat and Sandeep Srikanth report.

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Disneyland, its Walt Disney's biggest money spinner, especially after France, Japan and Hong Kong got one each now, Shanghai is also getting one, which will cost Disney USD 5 billion but India is not on the radar at all. Why? The main apprehension is that India does not possess the brand understanding required for a theme park to become a success. In addition, Disney says theme parks require huge capex, not to mention infrastructure, Power, water sources and land and these are also in short-supply in India.
So the entertainment giant says its TV business will continue to be the bread-winner for its India operations, which span five brands and four verticals.
Disney is increasingly looking at licensing and store-within-store formats to improve its brand presence and plans to expand its presence to 30 tier-1 cities as it looks to tap Rs 700 crore market that is growing by the hour. This is part of Disney's long-term India strategy -- one that was in the works ever since it took its Indian arm private a year ago.
Digitalisation will also help in this regard, as it will allow Disney to improve its revenue mix from the current 65:35 in favour of advertising, to more equitable revenue streams. Acquisitions to boost expansion are not top of mind but the company says it will look at both opportunities and timing before deciding on the next inorganic growth avenue.