It was reported late in 2017 that AKB48 would be expanding the brand to India in the form of Mumbai48 (MUM48) in 2018. Well that didn’t turn out to be exactly accurate, but it was announced today that the now MUB48 will be happening and they’ve also revealed that there will be a Delhi48 (DEL48) as well, giving India two sister groups at the same time.
DEL48 started their own YouTube channel recently and posted a video giving background on AKB48, announcing the groups, and also auditions.
I really don’t know enough about the market to know if this is a good idea or not, but AKS sure seems convinced at least.