MUMBAI: The Rs 2 billion music major - Sa Re GA Ma India Limited (SIL) has decided to diversify into home video and digital downloading business. The company will be venturing into the business in association with US based Paramount Studio and Microsoft Inc.
The deal between SIL and Paramount was signed a week ago and with the Microsoft on 13 September.
The company incurred a loss of approximately Rs 210 million during the last fiscal and had to resort to a number of strategic decisions, which helped it to earn a profit before tax of Rs 85 million at the end of the first quarter. SIL had recorded a loss of over Rs 50 million in the corresponding period of last year.
SIL vice chairman Sanjeev Goenka has been quoted in media reports as saying that under the new contract with Paramount, a number of world-class home videos and other English blockbusters would soon be released in the domestic market. According to him, joining Microsoft will help SIL to make available its music videos to music sites like I tunes, Real Rhapsody and Napster.
The first multi-million SIL venture Tumsa Nahin Dekha is ready for release. Goenka said that the firm's maiden Bengali movie would hit the screens in January next year.