Indian Hotels may raise 2030 targets amid strong quarterly growth

Ginger brand set to contribute 10% of consolidated revenue with 250 hotels by FY27, becoming IHCL's third-largest brand by revenue share

Indian Hotels Company Ltd, the parent firm of Taj Hotels, may look to revise upwards its targets of doubling its portfolio to over 700 hotels and reaching ₹15,000 crore in revenue by 2030.

 

This is part of the company’s Accelerate 2030 strategy chalked out in 2024, following consecutive quarters of high revenue growth that is likely to continue in the coming quarters as well.

 

IHCL managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal told Business Standard in an interaction that the company had a diversified business model and was in a strong financial position with no debt requirements and adequate cash flow while being open to more acquisitions. As of December 2025, it had a gross cash balance of ₹3,877 crore.

 

“If the next four quarters, one quarter remainder of FY26 which takes it to 16th consecutive quarters (of growth), we could review that, but we’re not in a rush to sign up anything to get to 700 (hotels). The growth will continue, because we’ve diversified by brand, geography, business model, contract type, footprint being across segments and internationally as well, and in doing so we’ve not leveraged ourselves. If we started leveraging, we could grow even faster,” he said.

 

Chhatwal added that the company had overall 32,300 keys from 361 hotels in operation, with another 256 hotels in the pipeline. In FY27, the company plans to open 40-50 new hotels, up from 35 this year, with Ginger Hotels reaching 250 hotels.

 

“Ginger’s share of revenues across brands is 7 per cent and next year (FY27), it should cross 10 per cent of consolidated revenue. TajSATS is already 13 per cent, so Ginger will become the third brand to enter double digit with much higher profitability than TajSATS. Ginger should be delivering 40 per cent Ebitda margins,” he added.

 

Indian Hotels reported a 50 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to ₹954.2 crore in the December quarter, from ₹635.2 crore in the same period in the previous year. The company took into account the impact of the Labour Codes at ₹50 crore in the quarter, categorised under exceptional items, which also included profit on sale of entire 25.52 per cent shareholding in joint venture company Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Limited and key money spent for securing long-term management contracts, totalling ₹275 crore.

 

Revenue from operations grew 12.2 per cent to ₹2,842 crore from ₹2,533 crore, in the same period last year. Ebitda was up 11.9 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,076 crore, while Ebitda margin dipped just a little to 37.9 per cent from 38 per cent.

 

“The revenue in the quarter was driven by a strong same store performance, not like for like growth, supported by a 17 per cent growth in airline and institutional catering and 31 per cent growth in new businesses. The hotel segment reported a revenue of ₹2,579 crore resulting in the best-ever quarterly Ebitda of ₹1,050 crore,” Chhatwal said.

 

Consolidated same store hotels saw growth of 9 per cent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth, a crucial metric determining revenue generation of a hotel. The new businesses segment comprising Ginger, Qmin, amã Stays & Trails and Tree of Life reported enterprise revenue of ₹316 crore, a growth of 39 per cent and consolidated revenue of ₹215 crore, up 31 per cent year-on-year.

 

Chhatwal said that the new business segments must contribute 35 per cent to overall business and therefore their growth rate should also be in the same range.

 

The company acquired controlling stake in integrated wellness brand Atmantan, entered into definitive agreements to acquire 51 per cent stake in Brij, a boutique experiential leisure offering – expected to close by March – and, scaled the Ginger brand with 51 per cent acquisition in ANK & Pride Hospitality.

 

With regards to the contribution from the upcoming AI Impact Summit in Delhi, the top executive said that the event’s spillover effects will happen as some delegates may stay longer, and meetings being conducted in business centres and over meals in hotels.