According to Mr V Chandrashekhar, director - finance & operations, this expansion will involve an investment of around Rs 4 crore on equipment alone, apart from a working capital of around Rs 12 crore in the period. The company is yet to decide on the exact pattern of funding the expansion.

The entertainment company is also planning to penetrate into Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada channels with original programming. So far, it used to only dub its programmes into these languages. However, as the market for dubbed programmes is slowly receding, the company is now looking at original programming.

To reach its target of a five-fold increase in turnover in the next 18 months from Rs 10 crore this fiscal, the company is planning to increase the number of its serials and chat shows, apart from programmes for specific target audiences like children, youth etc and current affairs programming.

In keeping with these plans, the company is re-positioning its flagship weekly programme Chinnathirai as a daily on Raj TV from November 13, 2000, with an investment of Rs 2.5 crore, with thought-provoking, taut five-episode stories which begin on a Monday and end on a Friday. Mr K Balachander, well-known film-maker and chairman of Min Bimbangal, told reporters at the launch that the introduction of a micro-serial is aimed at filling the gap in the availability of riveting, engaging serials with unique perspectives. Viewers find most long-drawn serials dragging and lacking in content, he said.

The programme will be marketed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Cuecom Entertainment Private Limited, which is expected to do a turnover of Rs 25 crore in the current fiscal.

Min Bimbangal's library has over 600 hours of programming, which ranges from comedy to thrillers, and its productions find prime slots in Indian and overseas channels, including TV12 (Singapore), Vanavil (Malaysia), Rupavahini (Sri Lanka) and SABC (South Africa).