The acquisition is likely to be completed by next month, they said.ET’s email query to Paytm remained unanswered as of press time. In response to ET's queries TicketNew’s chief executive, Ramkumar Nammalvar , declined comment “on any speculations in the market.” Alibaba Pictures is the entertainment arm of Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group. The payments firm is likely to invest some capital in Ticket-New’s business to enable faster growth in the south Indian market, one of the persons cited earlier said. Regional cinemas account for about 35% of Paytm’s entertainment ticketing revenues.Paytm operates in 675 cities across 4,000 movie screens with over 40%,or 1,600 screens, being added from regional chains last year. Competitor BookMyShow is present across over 4,500 screens in over 650 cities and holds the top spot in metro markets.

Source: Economic Times April 24, 2018 03:00 UTC