Disney looks to work magic in India
Walt Disney Co has approached the Indian government for land to build a theme park near the country’s capital, in a move to tap a potentially huge market.
An Indian official said on Sunday that Disney had asked New Delhi for land for a theme park.
“We are looking into it,” said the official from the Delhi Development Authority, who did not wish to be named.
Disney’s chief executive Michael Eisner and successor-designate Robert Iger were in India last week and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Eisner and Iger also met President Abdul Kalam and business leaders during their stay in the capital, the news agency said.
Disney has identified India, a nation of one billion people with a growing middle class, estimated at more than 200 million people, as a potential growth market, the agency added.
Disney also hopes to tap the Chinese market with the opening on 12 September of the Hong Kong Disneyland, the first in China.