Excerpts of CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Deepak Asher:

Q: The margins have seen a dip from about 30% or thereabouts to about 21-22%. What are the reasons for that and where do you see them eventually stabilising at?

A: Well I would say that the margins would stabilise at the current level. There has been a slight dip compared to what they were last year, primarily because of the kicking in of the entertainment tax, as well as a slight increase in operating costs.

But, if you look at the number more holistically, you will notice that sales have gone up by about 40% from Rs 39 crore to Rs 54 crore. The total income up by 45% from Rs 40 crore to Rs 58 crore.

Q: Could you walk us through some more qualitative aspects as to how many screens you have added in this particular quarter and what do you hope to add for the remaining six months of this particular financial year?

A: Sure. We had in the beginning of the quarter, 15 properties with 54 screens. That has gone up now to 20 properties with 69 screens. So, we have added 5 properties, three of our own and two as a result of the conclusion of the merger of CCPL with us. That also translates to roughly about 15 screens added in the last quarter.

The total capacity has gone up in terms of seats from 16,600 to 21,300, which is almost 5,000 seats, or 30%, increase in capacity.

Going forward, we expect to open another 9 properties over the next 6 months’ time. In fact, as we speak, we have already opened one property in this month and we expect to open another one towards the end of the month.

Our total property count by the end of this financial year should go up from 20 to 29, total screen count up from 69 to 105, and our total seating capacity up from 21,300 seats to about 30,600 seats. This would roughly represent about 50% increase in capacity going forward from this point of time.