However, simultaneously, there is the financing community which could fund the growth phase and get the industry its required size for stability. This community, having invested both debt and equity, has badly burnt its fingers.

To start with, higher-than-necessary investments have gone in projects due to over-invoicing or plain inefficiency. Parks by and large are tardy with their interest and loan repayments. Listed companies have not given investors any returns. And except for Nicco Park in Calcutta, no other park is showing profits.

Hence, a transparent and well-strategised approach to the business is the requirement before investors are induced to put their money in projects. The industry will have to pull up its socks and deliver in areas where it has been sadly lacking, like innovations in rides, well-diversified revenue models and complete exploitation of the merchandising potential. Customer satisfaction has to be the goal above all -- no one has sent away visitors unhappy and still managed to make a lot of money in this industry.

Forecasts are optimistic. The entertainment economy has grown at 70 per cent in the last year, though for parks the figure is much lower. Entertainment is being recognised as one of the few sectors where India could compete globally.

If activities like creating an industry databank, being an interface with outside parties, lobbying with the government, raising personnel standards and productivity are all taken care of by an industry body, this sector could see its growth accelerate.