Ripley's amusement park at Bangalore by April

Ripley's amusement park at Bangalore by April
Mumbai, PTI:
Ripley Entertainment Inc along with Prasad Labs will set up an amusement park at Bangalore on a franchisee basis with an investment of USD 4 million.

"We are setting up a joint venture with Prasad Labs for an amusement park at Bangalore, which includes Ripley's Incredible Maze and Believe It or Not Museum, Luis Tussaud's Wax Works (similar to Madame Tussaud's museum) and Guinness World Record Museum," Chairman of Ripley Entertainment Inc, Bob Masterson, said here.

The museum would be spread over 12,000 square feet near Bangalore and would open in April this year.

"We have made an investment of over USD 1 million and our joint venture partner Prasad Labs is pumping in USD 3 million to develop this park," Masterson added.

The Rs 4,000 crore Indian amusement and leisure industry is expecting fresh investments of Rs 10,000 crore by FY'20 with 500 new amusement parks coming up during that period.

"In India, major developments will be seen in next 5 years when many international parks will come via franchise or direct investment," Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI) President VGP Ravidas said.

Disney is also evaluating India for its theme parks, Ravidas said adding "the investments would be high. To set one Universal Studio (similar to Orlando in USA), the investment required is around USD 1 billion, Ravidas said.

The Amusement industry, is estimated to grow by 10-12 per cent per annum till FY'10, Ravidas added.

IAAPI has asked the government to reduce entertainment tax and confer industry status to the amusement industry, making it a part of the tourism department, Ravidas said.