Adopted an asset-right model, not asset-light: Top ITC Hotels exec

Chadha said that the new company would have a strong, debt-free balance sheet, with marquee properties and good cash flows

The demerger of the hotels business will allow ITC to strike the right balance between management contracts and own properties, Anil Chadha, divisional chief executive of ITC Hotels, has said.

In response to a question from Business Standard on whether the demerger offers an opportunity to build hotels, Chadha said ITC adopted an ‘asset-right’ model, which was not the same as an ‘asset-light’ model.

The cigarette-to-hotels major pivoted to an ‘asset-right’ model some years back after expanding the footprint of its hotels portfolio. Most of the large organised players moved to an asset-light model by then. More than