Sarna hopes to turn around Taj Group with massive rejig

The Taj Group, owned by Indian Hotels, which is weighed down by mounting losses and heavy debt, is hopeful of a turnaround sooner than later on the back of a the four-pronged organizational revamp that is under way at the country's oldest hotel chain.
"We are already cash (EBIDTA) positive and a positive PAT (profit after tax) is two years away. The just-concluded fiscal should be better than the previous one," company's managing director and chief executive Rakesh Sarna said.
This was his maiden media interaction after taking over the mantle eight months ago.
In an abrupt exit last August, Raymond Bickson had quit Indian Hotels as its managing director.

Sarna was, however, quick to add that this target is not cast in stone and can be attained earlier or later depending on the macro environment.
The 112-year-old Taj Group with 15,812-keys runs four brands - the Taj, the Taj by Vivanta, Gateway Hotels and Ginger - and together has 130 hotels and resorts.

While the Taj brand of hotels have 12,820 rooms, the Ginger brand of mid-market hotels have 2,992 keys. The group will be adding 17 more properties or 3,400 more keys this fiscal, added Sarna.
Explaining his three-pronged turnaround plan, Sarna said the immediate focus is to get the balance sheet right, increase the pipeline of opportunities and revamp the HR policy and the brand positioning of the group.

The company had a consolidated debt of Rs 4,300 crore and Rs 2,300 crore on Taj alone at the end of December quarter.
In FY14, its losses soared 113 per cent to Rs 559 crore from Rs 277 crore in 2012-13 on an income of Rs 4,066 crore. Against this, the rival Oberoi Hotels made a profit of Rs 50 crore on a revenue of Rs 1,157 crore in the same period.
However, Q3 of last fiscal saw it reporting a meagre 3.81 per cent rise at Rs 61.84 crore on an income of Rs 1,206.88 crore which also rose 4.25 per cent.