The Hindu Business Line : Indian Hotels' arm to expand `Ginger' network

Roots Corporation Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company Ltd, will invest an estimated Rs 400 crore in expanding the network of its no-frills hotel brand, Ginger, over the next 18 months.

The company plans to leverage the huge boom in industrial hubs, SEZs, IT hubs and the growth in tourism to increase the number of Ginger hotels from the existing six to 30 by March 2008, Mr Prabhat Pani, Cheif Executive Officer, Roots Corporation, told presspersons here.

Speaking at the launch of Maharashtra's first Ginger hotel in the industrial belt of Pune, Mr Pani said the company is gearing up for the launch of the brand in Nashik and Durgapur in the current fiscal.

Widening reach

"Work has already commenced on properties in Goa, Puducherry, Agartala and is due to commence in Tirupur, Varanasi, Pantnagar, Baroda and Ahmedabad in the next couple of months," he said.

The company is, meanwhile, in the final stages of tying up land for a second property in the IT belt of Hinjewadi in Pune and is also looking at properties in Ahmednagar and Aurangabad and the developing industrial hubs of Chakan, Talegaon and Ranjangaon.

"We intend to be in as many tier I, II and III cities, business locations and strong leisure destinations and hope to have 3,000 hotel rooms across the country by March 08," he said.

The country's hospitality sector is witnessing boom time currently with the biggest gainer being the three-star and below category, which has grown by 8.3 per cent last year.

Hospitality majors are right now gearing up to tap the expected growth in the next few years with the World Travel and Tourism Council saying that India has the potential to earn an estimated $24 billion in forex from foreign visitors by 2015.