Action, Thrills All Along The Way

Alok Tandon, as the CEO of Inox Leisure, has given a versatile vision to the company which has allowed it to grow impressively over the past few years. Under his leadership, INOX has grown from the blueprint stage to become an operator with 583 screens till date, emerging as the fastest-growing cinema chain in the country.

In FY18-19, the company added 85 screens in different parts of the country, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The financial year saw a new screen being installed every four days.

For Tandon, in the business of cinema addition of screens is not merely an asset addition opportunity but addition of a new approach, a new set of consumers and team, a new set of strategies, and a new set of learnings.  

“In my role, through smart decision-making I always make an attempt to ensure that the organisation is agile enough to adapt to the transformation, always evolving and staying relevant to the stakeholders, while revolving around our brand ethos of service, luxury and technology,” he told BW Businessworld.

“As the leader of the pack, I ensure that our customers remain the core of all our decisions, whether micro or macro. Brand equity and meaningful storytelling have a unique and strong co-relation, and I always believe that innovativeness in communicating not only fetches more eyeballs, but more positive conversations, and therefore a stronger brand equity. Besides content, we know for sure that the customer experience is the one of the most critical drivers for volumes,” he added.

According to Tandon, INOX recorded its highest ever growth in the final quarter of the financial year ending March 31, 2019.
The company’s revenue from operations jumped 48 per cent to Rs 479 crore (from Rs 324 crore), while operating profit (Ebitda) was up 122 per cent to Rs 97 crore versus Rs 44 crore in the year ago. Its Ebitda margin also improved to 20 per cent from 14 per cent a year ago.

Talking about his company’s guiding philosophy, he said, “ We are a design company creating architectural wonders; a food company serving delectable F&B offerings, a media company handling advertisers, an asset management company ensuring spic and span cinema halls and a creative organisation communicating with its consumers every day. The most interesting transformational challenge is not just to ensure that each of these sub-organisations take the new change into their stride, but also capitalise upon the transformation.”

Tandon, who has seen a lot of fiscal success as a CEO, believes that a CEO should abide by two practices while serving. “I feel that being accessible to the team comes with a lot of gains. It allows me to have more conversations and clarity of thoughts, across the hierarchy, but also helps me to reverse-learn from my teammate,” he says of his secret sauce as a leader.

Tandon also believes in working with the team members on the ground. “Another practice that I focus upon is to roll up my sleeves and work with my teammates, as and when the situation has arisen.”  

Tandon has ensured that Inox grows at an accelerated rate, thanks to the numerous policies he has implemented with regard to ticket pricing, countrywide expansion, advertising and marketing. But what is more impressive perhaps is that he has managed to accomplish all this while adhering to his principles and values.