If all goes well, Maya Entertainment Ltd. may plan an IPO in the next two-three years. Ronald D’Mello, the new managing director of Maya, shared all this and more in a candid interview with Pritha Mitra Dasgupta. Excerpts:
Why did you leave UTV for Maya?
Being at the strategic helm of a diversified media company for 15 years, I felt the need to get involved in something more focussed and, hence, the move.
What was your primary mandate at Maya?
The primary mandate was to drive Maya towards its true potential. Maya looked to me like an entity, which had the potential, and my mandate was to identify and ignite this potential.
What were the reasons for restructuring the organisation?
There were some fundamental hygiene issues that needed to be set right, which led us to ensure that some executives exit the company. We also terminated some franchisee operations of the company on the education side. This was necessary to build a transparent and empowered organisation, without which no business can expect to have all-round growth. Secondly, my study on Maya’s historical evolution led me to believe that the company was always short of its real potential because of a lack of clear focus on each of its activities. Hence, we restructured the organisation in three clear verticals—education, services and own intellectual properties (IPs).
What are the basic differences you observed in the work processes/culture in UTV’s animation division and in Maya?
I think Maya had the legacy of stalwarts like Ketan Mehta and, hence, the overall creative backbone of Maya’s animation was superior to that of UTV. Apart from that and some culture differences that are peculiar to a corporate entity versus a personality driven business situation, it was all the same.
What is the current revenue and compounded annual growth rate of the company?
Maya’s combined revenue for 2007-’08 would be about Rs 100 crore, majorly contributed by its education vertical. While the education side of the business will see robust growth year-on-year, the services and own IP segments will see multiplying growth for the next few years, as we have been able to energise these verticals significantly during the last six months.
Maya is currently working on two productions—Toonpur Ka Superhero and Rama. What’s next?
Our ambition is to work towards releasing two animation films a year from the Maya stable, 2010 onwards. This is apart from other content initiatives in television, home video and other digital media deliveries like the online and mobile technology.
Recently, you have forayed into Delhi. Why Delhi? Where and how many branches do you wish to open, and by when?
With increased workflow, our infrastructure in Mumbai is fast filling up. Moreover, with our education side of the business catering for more than 3,000 students in the northern part of India, it made sense for us to set up our facilities in Delhi for expansion. Going forward, we will keep trying to use the synergies of our education side of the business to set up facilities in the east and the south as and when we see the need to expand our infrastructure.
Give us a perspective on the animation outsourcing market.
The service outsourcing business will continue to flow into India but the real upside the studios in India will achieve is when they have a piece of content growth for themselves. This realisation has led to many Indian studios looking at own content while working on outsourcing work. International co-productions are another way of moving up the value chain.
What is the biggest challenge in the animation business in India?
I think talent is the biggest challenge, as of now, in numbers. Recently, I read an article about animation in Japan that had some reference to talent in India as ‘primarily school dropouts or technically-oriented individuals looking for alternative engagement’ rather than passionate, creatively-driven people. This is one area to which we need to give attention. The other problem where some regulatory intervention could help is to provide a level playing field when we deal with European/Western country competition where the operators get substantial state grants and tax incentives, thereby creating a straight cost disadvantage for Indian studios.
Why did you leave UTV for Maya?
Being at the strategic helm of a diversified media company for 15 years, I felt the need to get involved in something more focussed and, hence, the move.
What was your primary mandate at Maya?
The primary mandate was to drive Maya towards its true potential. Maya looked to me like an entity, which had the potential, and my mandate was to identify and ignite this potential.
What were the reasons for restructuring the organisation?
There were some fundamental hygiene issues that needed to be set right, which led us to ensure that some executives exit the company. We also terminated some franchisee operations of the company on the education side. This was necessary to build a transparent and empowered organisation, without which no business can expect to have all-round growth. Secondly, my study on Maya’s historical evolution led me to believe that the company was always short of its real potential because of a lack of clear focus on each of its activities. Hence, we restructured the organisation in three clear verticals—education, services and own intellectual properties (IPs).
What are the basic differences you observed in the work processes/culture in UTV’s animation division and in Maya?
I think Maya had the legacy of stalwarts like Ketan Mehta and, hence, the overall creative backbone of Maya’s animation was superior to that of UTV. Apart from that and some culture differences that are peculiar to a corporate entity versus a personality driven business situation, it was all the same.
What is the current revenue and compounded annual growth rate of the company?
Maya’s combined revenue for 2007-’08 would be about Rs 100 crore, majorly contributed by its education vertical. While the education side of the business will see robust growth year-on-year, the services and own IP segments will see multiplying growth for the next few years, as we have been able to energise these verticals significantly during the last six months.
Maya is currently working on two productions—Toonpur Ka Superhero and Rama. What’s next?
Our ambition is to work towards releasing two animation films a year from the Maya stable, 2010 onwards. This is apart from other content initiatives in television, home video and other digital media deliveries like the online and mobile technology.
Recently, you have forayed into Delhi. Why Delhi? Where and how many branches do you wish to open, and by when?
With increased workflow, our infrastructure in Mumbai is fast filling up. Moreover, with our education side of the business catering for more than 3,000 students in the northern part of India, it made sense for us to set up our facilities in Delhi for expansion. Going forward, we will keep trying to use the synergies of our education side of the business to set up facilities in the east and the south as and when we see the need to expand our infrastructure.
Give us a perspective on the animation outsourcing market.
The service outsourcing business will continue to flow into India but the real upside the studios in India will achieve is when they have a piece of content growth for themselves. This realisation has led to many Indian studios looking at own content while working on outsourcing work. International co-productions are another way of moving up the value chain.
What is the biggest challenge in the animation business in India?
I think talent is the biggest challenge, as of now, in numbers. Recently, I read an article about animation in Japan that had some reference to talent in India as ‘primarily school dropouts or technically-oriented individuals looking for alternative engagement’ rather than passionate, creatively-driven people. This is one area to which we need to give attention. The other problem where some regulatory intervention could help is to provide a level playing field when we deal with European/Western country competition where the operators get substantial state grants and tax incentives, thereby creating a straight cost disadvantage for Indian studios.
Source : http://www.screenindia.com
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