Gyms were among the worst pandemic-hit businesses in the country. They were the first to shut and the last to open and around 30-35% of the gyms may never return, say industry players. Even the large chains have found the going tough. After two turbulent years, the business is set to regain health and flex some muscles. A wave of consolidation has begun with fresh investments readying to enter the business.
The Lexicon Group, based in Pune, has just acquired MultiFit Gym, one of the larger fitness brands in the country for an undisclosed sum. MultiFit has presence in India, UK and UAE with 23 fitness centres across nine cities. Nasir Shaikh, CEO, The Lexicon Group of Institutes and MultiFit, says they have aggressive expansion plans for MultiFit and the chain would have 200 centres in five years in India and globally. Of these, 30 would be base gyms owned by them and rest would be franchise operations.
According to Shaikh, they also have big plans to expand the MultiFit Exercise and Science Academy, which trains and certifies trainers with a large academy coming up in Pune and smaller centres planned in other parts of the country.
Last month, it was health and wellness platform, Cult.fit that picked up Gold’s Gym business in India. Cult.fit acquired a majority stake in F2 Fun & Fitness India to become the master franchise partner for Gold’s Gym in India, among the top two fitness chains in the country. Cult.fit has announced aggressive plans to scale up and expand Gold’s Gym footprint in India and overseas.
Talwalkars Better Value Fitness and Talwalkar Health Clubs, the largest fitness chain in the country is under corporate insolvency process of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
“Lot of investor interest is back. All those who wanted to invest and had held back due to the lockdown are coming back,” says Vishal Gupta, president, Traders Association of Sporting Goods and Physical Exercise Equipment and owner of Viva Fitness, a fitness equipment manufacturer and distributor. He is confident of a quick bounce back and estimates around Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 crore investments could come into the business.
The Indian market can only grow from here on, experts believe. Only 1% of the population goes to a gym in India compared to the 20-25% in US and Europe. The pandemic has brought in a renewed focus on health and wellness and this is expected to further drive growth for the industry and bring back the gyms back into the business.
