NEW DELHI: The post-pandemic
travel boom
is seeing desi sectoral players scale new valuation heights. Tata Group’s
IHCL
– which runs
Taj Hotels
– has now become the first
Indian hospitality
company to touch a
market cap
of Rs 1 lakh crore. Oberoi Hotels is the second most valuable at about Rs 24,000 crore.
India’s largest airline (by domestic market share) IndiGo had achieved that landmark last June – becoming the first desi airline to do so.
IndiGo’s market cap is currently at over Rs 1.9 lakh crore.
Rising valuations
“The true potential of Indian tourism sector in general and our hospitality sector in particular, is yet to be reached. As a consequence of govt’s focus on infrastructure development, especially trains, airports and highways, India is poised to emerge as one of the foremost destinations globally. The meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment will grow significantly for the country.
Domestic tourism
will keep growing by leaps and bounds,” Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO of IHCL, told TOI.IHCL reached the Rs 1-lakh-crore landmark last week. The company has been adding hotels across India. Operating four brands – Taj, SeleQtions, Vivanta and Gateway – IHCL currently has a portfolio of 340 hotels, including 112 under development globally across 130 locations in 13 countries.
ITC Hotels will be hived off from parent ITC. Since mid 2022, airlines and hotels are almost going full despite unprecedented airfares and tariffs, respectively. As a result, IndiGo (the only profitable big Indian airline), hotel & other travel companies like online travel agencies have been posting record profits and revenues since then quarter after quarter.
