NEW DELHI: After having made a mark in the media and entertainment industry, media baron Subhash Chandra is now diversifying into infrastructure.

The Chandra promoted Rs 35 billion Essel Group has made a bid for modernization of Delhi and Mumbai airports. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had recently sought an expression of interest from parties concerned.

When contacted Ashish Kaul, vice-president, Corporate Brand Development Essel Group, confirmed the development and said, "The Essel Group has submitted an expression of interest to the AAI through our group company Pan India Paryatan Limited.

Pan Indian Paryatan manages the largest and the popular theme parks under the brand name of Essel World and Water Kingdom. We are partnering with the TAV Group of Turkey for this, Kaul said. The TAV group operates the Istanbul, Ankara and Tehran international airports.

When asked about this diversification into infrastructure management, Kaul said," Essel Group has been associated with diverse businesses and we have been looking at diversifying and developing the theme parks with international recreational facilities and with the objective of developing India as one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world.

This is the first phase of the process of awarding this major contract, which has opened with nine other interested companies submitting an expression of interest as a prerequisite to graduate to the second stage where these pre- qualified companies will be privy to all the details of the scope of work and financials.

Essel group has a vast range of national and global business interest, encompassing media programming, broadcasting and distribution, packaging, entertainment, telecom and trading, having close synergies with ventures active in the areas of content distribution/ reach and infrastructure/ logistics.

Some of the companies that Essel Group promotes are Zee Telefilms Limited, Essel Propack, Pan India Paryatan, Dish TV, Asian Sky Shop, Agrani Group.