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Taj hotels group learns future lies in east, southeast, not west

The Indian Hotels Company, which runs the Taj group of hotels, is contemplating acquiring assets in southeast Asia, and reorient and reclassify the operations of the company, its chairman Ratan Tata said, addressing the 97th annual general meeting in Bombay on Friday.

He said the management is looking for options to diversify in the southeast region, and in real terms, globalise the operations of one of the oldest hotel companies in the country.

Meanwhile, the company has finalised the sale of its loss-making units in New York and Chicago. The process of evaluation is on and the outcome will be known in the near future.

Tata told shareholders that the company would reorient and reclassify the operations under three heads, namely, luxury, leisure and business. This will enable the company to focus on specific areas.

However, Tata informed that the company has withdrawn from the Bandra-Kurla project. In the process, the company has lost Rs 40 million as earnest money. The company is looking for options to convert the Willingdon Palace in South Bombay into a hotel or an apartment hotel.

Tata said due to the economic crisis in southeast Asia, the asset value in the region is on the decline. The company will look for bright prospects in the region.

During the first quarter of the fiscal year, the group's profits rose by 5.7 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year. The company will require Rs 8 billion capital expenditure for the next five-year period.

The company also intends to expand its network in the near future including setting up of a hotel on company land at Sahar in Bombay and setting up hotels at Jodhpur, Bharatpur, Hyderabad and Madras.

UNI