Ajanta group to foray into hospitality

To build budget hotel in clocktown Morbi.

Taking its diversification story a step further, the Morbi-based clock-maker Ajanta group now plans to foray into the hospitality sector.

The company has proposed to set up a three-star hotel in Morbi at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore. The 50-room hotel will also have a banquet hall and a business centre. It would take up the Morbi project in the second week of April, a company official said.

Besides lodging and boarding, Ajanta plans to enter the catering business and is in talks with Shiv Group of Hotels and Vadodara-based Express Hotels.

"Morbi will be a litmus test for us. If we succeed, we will set up many more hotels in the state beginning with Rajkot district," said the official. The hospitality project will be under Ajanta Transistor Clock Mfg Co.

"We are talking to Ajanta group for the project and if this fructifies we plan to set up more hotels in Gujarat," said Ashwin Gandhi, director of Express Hotels.

Though the group had held talks with leading hotel chains like Le Meridian, Fortune Group and Ahmedabad- based Grand Bhagwati group in the past, nothing has materialised so far.

The company is also planning to set up a hotel and resort project in Rajkot and in future, plans to include resorts in its hotel projects, sources informed.

The group had already diversified into vitrified tiles and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in the past. Besides, it had announced plans to manufacture electronic bikes and has ventured into food and snacks business.