IHCL to accelerate growth to 30% in next few years buoyed by positive sentiment, expansion plans

Mumbai: Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) on Thursday said it is expecting to accelerate its growth to 30 percent in the next few years on the back of positive industry sentiment and expansion. “We intend to significantly increase our footprint in India, driven by ‘3R’ (restructure, re-engineer and re-imagine) strategy and achieve our aspiration of doubling the room keys and expanding the operating margin by 800 bps over the next five years,” IHCL Chairman N Chandrasekaran told shareholders at the company’s AGM here. “Our journey of growth has already commenced, marked by the sharpening of Taj, Vivanta and Ginger brands as well as the launch of a new collection called ‘SeleQtions’,” he added. Chandrasekaran said IHCL will also take initiatives to work together with other Tata companies. “The company is growing at a rate of 8-10 percent, which we plan to increase to 30 percent in the next few years,” he added. [caption id=“attachment_2448738” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hotel Taj, Mumbai.
Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The country’s favourable demographics, with a large and growing middle class coupled with rising income levels and spending patterns have been triggers for growth, which remain extremely favourable to the company, he said. Chandrasekaran said the travel and tourism sector is expected to grow at 6.9 percent per annum, on healthy growth in the aviation industry and robust government-led initiatives aimed at stimulating the sector, including promoting the expansion of e-visa scheme. Moreover, the hospitality sector has been witnessing growth in the recent years. “As a cumulative result of all these factors, demand growth in the hotel industry has been clearly outpacing that of supply, leading to a surge in occupancies and RevPARs,” he added. The company is looking forward to opening eight new hotels this year, he added. IHCL, he said, has turned profitable for the first time in six years, recording a Rs 101 crore profit with a total revenue of Rs 4,165 crore. The company’s overall consolidated debt has also been reduced to around Rs 2,400 crore from a peak of Rs 5,800 crore, he added.