Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) will double its hotels portfolio to 700 plus and grow its consolidated revenue by 2x to ₹15,000 crore by March 2030, the company’s managing director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal announced today.
The expansion plan which is part of the company’s ‘Accelerate 2030’ strategy comes in the backdrop of ten successive profitable quarters, strong cash flows and zero net debt. Long term structural tailwinds such as GDP growth, rise in disposable income and shortage of branded hotel rooms are positive triggers for expansion.
Growth will come from both organic and inorganic means and IHCL will continue to drive asset light model to increase its footprint, managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal said. He added the company is generating enough cash to fuel growth and will remain prudent in generating debt.
“We are committed to be the most valued, responsible and profitable hospitality eco system in South Asia,” Chhatwal said.
IHCL which operates the Taj brand hopes to garner 75 per cent of its revenue from its traditional business with management fees contributing around ₹1000 crore by FY 2030 . New businesses such as budget brand Ginger, luxury homestays, food delivery service and boutique resorts are expected to contribute to 25 per cent of topline.
IHCL’s executive vice president & CFO Ankur Dalwani said the company will continue to remain net cash positive and spend over ₹5000 crore in capital expenditure in existing properties and new projects.
“We are also committed to our announced dividend policy of distributing 20 per cent to 40 per cent of profit after tax to shareholders,” he added.
Currently IHCL has a portfolio of 350 hotels which includes 232 operating hotels with 28,000 keys spread across luxury (Taj) , upscale (Gateway, Vivanta) midscale ( Ginger) properties and resorts. The pipeline consists of 118 hotels with 14500 rooms under development. By 2030 IHCL hopes to have a portfolio of 700 hotels with around 70,000 keys.
Over 75 per cent of new hotel additions will come from boutique leisure offering (Tree of Life), Gateway brand in upscale and Ginger in midscale segments.
While the company will continue to expand overseas with focus on West Asia, Thailand, Singapore and Europe, 90 per cent of its portfolio will be centred in the Indian sub-continent, Chhatwal said.