• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Ashwini Phadnis

NEW DELHI, May 5

IN a move that could help the Air India subsidiary, Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) become leaner, about 400 of its staff have finally accepted the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

Official sources told Business Line that the cost to the company of the VRS offer which has been accepted by the staff at the Delhi Centaur Hotel, and the Chefair catering units in Mumbai and Delhi would be in the region of Rs 20-22 crore.

Those working in HCI had been given time till April 30 to either accept or refuse the conditional VRS that was being offered. Though earlier close to 700 staffers had shown a keenness to opt for the VRS scheme several opted out for a variety of reasons including short tenure of service left and uncertainty over how long it would take for the Government to complete the disinvestment process in the chain, sources said.

HCI, which is already in the process of upgrading the Skychef catering unit in Mumbai at an estimated cost of about Rs 4 crore, hopes to recover the cost incurred for implementing the VRS scheme within the next three and half years, sources said.

The VRS scheme is to be implemented in phases and the staff who have opted for it are to be released in batches over the next few months so that the existing operations are not affected. Before the Government decided to exit from the hospitality sector, HCI ran the Centaur chain of hotels. While the Centaur hotels in Mumbai and Rajgir (Bihar) have been divested, the two hotels in Delhi and Srinagar as also the flight kitchens in Mumbai and Delhi are still with the group.

Meanwhile, the completion of the upgradation at the Mumbai Chefair is likely to see HCI look after the entire catering business of Air India and could also help it scout for business from Indian Airlines. The upgradation work at Mumbai Skychef is likely to be completed in the next six month and is likely to see the number of meals being offered by the unit increase to between 8,000-10,000 per day from the existing level of 5,000 meals per day.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
BSES names lead arrangers for term loan

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line