The Rs 1,600-crore DS Group, which has till now used internal accruals for all its diversifications, is now looking at debt and equity participation for some of its new infrastructure and hospitality businesses.

The company, known for its Catch and Rajnigandha brand, is stepping up its focus in the hospitality sector with five new luxury hotels in the pipeline.

To make headway in the infrastructure space — power and cement — the company is working on projects in Meghalaya for which it will seek debt or equity participation in the near future.

These include a Rs 1,200-crore 240-MW thermal power project based on coal sourced locally from the Garo region. The Rs 550-crore cement unit in the Jaintia hill district will have a 1-million-tonne-a-year capacity and also house a 20 MW captive coal-based power plant.

The company's hospitality ventures come in the wake of it tasting success with its flagship venture, Manu Maharani in Nainital, Uttarakhand. The largest of the five upcoming projects is to come up at the Kolkata airport. The Group acquired the Kolkata Airport Hotel property sometime ago and is currently constructing a 245-room five-star, a 126-room budget hotel and a convention centre to cater to international and domestic travellers.

In Guwahati, the company is setting up the first five-star hotel in the North East region in a joint venture with the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority. The 196-room project will be managed by an international hotel chain. A five-star hotel in Jaipur close to the airport and a boutique property in Jim Corbett Park are also under development. It has also acquired land in Ranthambore, Dehradun and Goa for future hotel projects.

DS Group started diversifying from its core tobacco and mouth freshener business in 1987. It entered the food and beverages sector with Catch and expanded the brand to spices. Currently it is growing its hospitality segment, rubber thread and steel business and venturing into cement and power.

Some of its diversifications have begun to add to the topline of the Group. “Our mouth freshener business contributes almost 51 per cent to the topline with a turnover of Rs 683.55 crore… the F&B Catch business has started yielding results and adds around Rs 225 crore to the topline. The Rubber Thread business started in 2006, which is a little over four years and already contributes Rs 80 crore (in 2010-11) to the topline. In such a short span, it has become the number one brand of the country,” said Mr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, DS Group.

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