MAM
Rentrak inks deal with India’s Carnival Cinemas for box office measurement
MUMBAI: Box office measurement body Rentrak is slowly expanding its footprint in India, where until now box office numbers haven’t had a systematic tracking system. Rentrak, which recently inked a deal with India’s Cinepolis multiplex chain, has now joined hands with the Mumbai based Carnival Cinemas.
Rentrak will implement its box office reporting system across Carinval Cinemas properties.
Carnival Cinemas with 300 screens currently ranks as India’s third-largest exhibition chain after PVR and Inox. The company plans to increase its screen count to more than 1,000 screens across India by 2017, including theaters in small cities throughout South India.
It may be recalled that last year Carnival Cinemas acquired Big Cinemas, which was the multiplex business of Reliance Mediaworks.
“We are excited to expand our measurement in India and work with Carnival Cinemas as they continue to become one of the top players in the market. Rentrak is committed to expanding our box office measurement throughout India to help their film production be more transparent,” said Rentrak president of global movie services Ron Giambra.
“We are delighted to partner with Rentrak, the global leaders in box office measurement to herald an era of precise box office information in the Indian movie industry. Carnival, while striving to provide the best possible movie watching experience to its viewers, also strives to uphold the global best practices in all aspects of film exhibition. I am sure that our synergy will add value to the industry as a whole,” added Carnival CEO Group P.V Sunil.
Rentrak has been measuring box office receipts in India since October 2014. The first film it tracked was Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir Khan’s PK, which recently became the country’s highest-grossing film of all time.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
