The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) and KPMG India has reported the results of a study into the nation’s attractions industry.

India’s theme park industry grew at 10.25 per cent in 2016 and is worth around US$450m (€420m, £360m), up from US$410m in 2015, said the report, 'Media for the masses: The promise unfolds.'

The industry is still small, but expected to grow at a rate of 19.1 per cent through 2021, as incomes continue to edge upward and people continue to move to urban areas.

According to the section of the report that focuses on the attractions business, Indian theme parks are starting to understand the importance of global standards on safety, cleanliness, innovation, training and customer experience.

More than 150 theme parks have opened since Appu Ghar, India's first, launched in Delhi in 1984. Today, the top three theme parks are Essel World in Mumbai, Nicco Park in Kolkata, and Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, which all attract more than 1.5 million visitors annually.

The report says the theme park industry could be worth more than US$1bn by the beginning of the next decade.

However, one issue with the Indian theme park sector is that is almost entirely geared to the domestic population and does not attempt to attract international tourists.

Wonderla theme parks operator Arun Chittilappily said: “The Indian theme park industry currently caters to the local population and would need infrastructure development initiatives to cater to the global audience, which shall require more investments in the sector.”

Chittilappily also noted the importance of pricing in the market, where admission tickets average INR1,000 compared to INR3,000 in parks in developed countries.

“India is a price-sensitive market and ticket prices are going to remain low in the future; therefore to promote investments, government incentives shall be required in the form of tax holidays and subsidies,” he said.

Click here for the full report.