Healthy India Fit India “Talwalkars” to expand in small towns with 300 gyms

Talwalkars Better Value Fitness, a leading health club chain listed on BSE, plans to expand to small towns and cities by opening 300 ‘Hi-Fi’ (Healthy India Fit India) gyms in the next three years under its new Talwalkars Hi Fi division. “There is a great demand for gyms in small towns and cities which we are tapping through a franchise route under our new Talwalkars Hi Fi division,” said Madukar Talwalkar, chairman of Talwalkars Better Value Fitness.Seema Gulani, a sportswoman and a franchisee, opened the first Talwalkars Hi Fi gym in Pune on Thursday. At present, the company runs its own 105 gyms in 50 cities across India under the Talwalkars brand. Its rivals include Golds Gym, Fitness First, Solaris, Abs and Endurance.Talwalkar said the fitness industry is valued at Rs 800 crore and growing at 12 per cent per annum. “There has been a great deal of change in lifestyles in metros and in emerging towns and cities in the last decade, with the adult population wanting to look good and feel good,” Talwalkar said.Vishal Rupani, CEO, Talwalkars Hi Fi Healthy India, a division of Talwalkars Better Value Fitness, said more than 50 HI Fi gym franchises were slated to be launched in Maharashtra, NCR, Haryana and Gujarat shortly.Vishwas Shinde, an entrepreneur, who runs five gyms in Navi Mumbai and three in Nagpur under the Talwalkar brand for the last eight years, has signed up to launch 15 Hi Fi gyms in Vidharbha and Marathawada region in eastern and central Maharashtra respectively. “It is a profitable business with the youth demanding quality gyms to stay fit and flaunt it before their peers,” he said.Rupani said the franchisee was required to pay a license fee of Rs 5 lakh and 6 per cent of total revenue as royalty annually. “The company will design the gym and supervise it and train the trainers to maintain the Talwalkar standard of service and quality,” he said.