ITC Hotels Gets Board Nod for $381 Million Vizag Hotel

With India facing a shortage of hotel rooms, ITC Hotels' growth push in untapped markets comes at a timely moment.

ITC Hotels on Wednesday said its board has approved a capital expenditure of INR 32.8 billion ($381.5 million) for construction of a hotel in Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh.

The 200-room hotel is expected to be completed by 2029 and will be the first ITC Hotels-owned property in the city. The hotel company already manages two hotels in Vizag under its brands.

While reporting its earnings for the quarter ending June 30, the hotel group also said it is constructing super premium branded residences in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The project is part of ITC’s investment in Sri Lanka said to be the largest investment ever made by an Indian company in the island. ITC also operates a twin-tower hotel, located in the upscale Galle Face area.

Financials: ITC Hotels reported a net profit of INR 13.3 billion ($155 million) for the quarter ending June 30, marking a 54% year-on-year increase, though down from INR 25.8 billion ($300 million) in the previous March quarter. Revenue rose 15% year-on-year to INR 81.5 billion ($948 million), but declined from INR 106 billion ($1.23 billion) last quarter.

ITC Hotels now operating as a separate company parted ways with its parent ITC. This marks the third time it has shared its performance publicly since the split.

Big Bets on New Properties: ITC Hotels has ambitious plans. The company currently operates over 140 hotels across India with a room inventory of about 13,000 keys. About 45% of these hotels are owned by the company itself. The rest are run under management contracts.

The target now is to cross 200 hotels and 18,000 rooms by 2030. ITC Hotels also aims to add 300