Armed with Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.50 billion) fund for acquisitions, Tata Group firm Indian Hotels Company said on Wednesday that it would open one Taj exotica resort in Mauritius, a luxury service apartment in Mumbai and one Taj hotel in Gwalior and Kovalam each.
"We raised $150 million in foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) in February this year. The fund will largely be used for acquisitions. With this, we will also venture into luxury service apartments in India," Indian Hotels Company managing director Raymond N Bickson said.
Though the company has been running luxury service apartments in London and Dubai, Indian Hotels had limited exposure to the niche but growing areas of luxury service apartments.
One such apartment would come up in Mumbai in September this year followed by places like Delhi, he said.
The Tata Group company, which is planning to have hotels under the Taj brand name across all the gateway cities of the world, will construct the first luxury service apartments with an investment of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion).
"We are quite bullish on the growth prospect of tourism. Occupancy rates are likely to go up by 10 per cent this year over last year," Bickson said.
"We are going to develop two Taj hotels -- one each in Gwalior and Kovalam. We are also planning to either develop or acquire existing properties in countries like the United States, China, North American and ASEAN nations," he said.
In Gwalior, the Tata Group company will acquire a palace to turn it into a Taj hotel. In Kovalam, it will develop a property from scratch.
Initially, Indian Hotels Company will keep the management control of the proposed hotels.
The company has created a separate profit-making entity Roots Corporation to invest Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) in the next five years to open 150 no-frills hotels under IndiOne brand name.
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