Hampshire Hotels to invest Rs 5000 cr in India

Written by Hindustan Times

Sunday, 06 January 2008

New York-based Hampshire Hotels and Resorts, owned by NRI Sant Chatwal, has proposed to invest Rs 5,000 crore to build hotels across India in a span of four years. "We would pump in Rs 5,000 crore in Indian hospitality sector during next four years for building up new chain of hotels," Hampshire Hotels and Resorts Chairman and CEO Sant Chatwal told reporters in Chandigarh on Saturday. Out of total investment, a sum of Rs 1,000 to 2,000 crore has been earmarked by the company for setting up hotel in Punjab, he further said. Chatwal, an Non-Resident Indian, was here to attend a NRI Conclave organised by Punjab government on Saturday. Major portion of the proposed investment would be dedicated for building up new hotels in southern part of India. "We would set up new hotels under the brand of Hampshire Plaza and Dreams Hotels in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chennai," he said. "Out of these hotel projects, one hotel at Hyderabad is being set up at an investment of Rs 125 crore and another hotel is also being constructed in Kochi with an outlay of Rs 200 crore," he said. On his investment plans in Punjab -- Chatwal, who hails from Faridkot district of the state, said: "I have proposed the Punjab government for converting the Gobindgarh Fort in Amritsar to a seven star heritage hotel cum museum which would showcase the history of the Punjabi culture and tradition". When asked about the response of the state government, he said that state had shown keen interest in his proposal. But he further cautioned, "If things did not get materialised here, then my investment would flow to other states of the country." Comments (2) >> Show/Hide comments Pune Suites said:   Along with the boom in Real Estate, the Hospitality sector has also caught up in race for industrial progress . Many new 5-4 star Hotels, Business , Luxury , Designer Hotels and Suites have entered the market and many of them have announced their launch in the new year.This could change the orthodox trends followed by the existing brands and create a whole new revolution in the Indian Hospitality sector. January 07, 2008 | url Noor D Singh said:   Forts and other buildings of historic importance should be treated as high value assets. It is sometime disturbing to see that inspite of quite a few Graded buildings in Punjab, awareness is low at a public level as well as a more wider policy level to protect the interets of a material heritage (I am glad I can see efforts like on this site). From my professional experience I can suggest that there are a few ways to approach this, one of them being that a detailed high level study is commisioned by Urban Authorities responible for instance PUDA and then a Urban Policy Framework is put in place for the next 10-15 years to establish how value can be added to these structures. Inspite of these being a revenue stream for the government, it is equally of interest to a wider audience. At this stage, Punjab needs some vsionary leaders and bureaucrats to drive the state to a point where we all can keep up the spirit of being Punjabis. I have lived most of my life in Chandigarh and now work as an architect for a design and strategy consultancy in London. Any comments welcome. February 23, 2008 Write comment You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

 

< Prev		Next >