First of all, congratulations for the listing. Now, this demerger has happened. The company is now part of the stock exchange. What is your vision for ITC Hotel now?
Sanjiv Puri: Firstly, thank you very much. So, this is a legacy over several decades where we have today a very strong foundation. Of course, iconic properties, iconic cuisines. We are very well known for our service standards. We also had the privilege of serving everybody at G20 which was acknowledged. So, we have a strong foundation. The opportunity in India is immense. Under the government several interventions have happened in the economy that have truly transformed it into a very vibrant economy and we see a lot happening in the economy.
So, we are finding that infrastructure is very good. Air connectivity, road, rail connectivity, convention facilities of global standards have been built. Delhi is one great example. And with all of this and also the trend towards leisure tourism, the ability to also take a break during the non-holiday period, I think all this is driving this industry forward and there is therefore a supply-demand mismatch.
In fact, demand is more. So, it augurs well for the industry and the opportunity in India is much more. India just has
270 rooms per million. Global average is 6,900. If you look at our neighbouring countries, it is anywhere around 2,000 to 4,000. So, huge red room to grow. So, in that given the context and given the transformation we are seeing in the Indian economy, it is India’s moment in history and everybody is looking towards India.
So, therefore, naturally the aspiration here is to grow at a rapid pace. So, sometime back, when we were doing one hotel in two months, we set a target of one hotel every month. Last 24 months, it has been 30 hotels. And there is a plan to scale up to 200 hotels in the next few years. But I am sure it is going to be at least, because we have seen that we are able to accelerate the pace going forward.
So, expansion is definitely going to be the strategy. But I want to ask about the shareholders who are ITC Hotel shareholders. What should they look forward for?
Sanjiv Puri: As shareholders, they should look forward to tremendous growth in this sector. I think it is a sector that has immense opportunities. But let me also add to this that for us, our whole legacy and ethos and our success I think is founded on the whole principle of creating stakeholder value.
Value for our customers, value for society, value for employees. When all of them win, then ITC Hotels wins, so that is the philosophy we will build on and naturally, this is also going to create economic value for all participants going forward.
Now, ITC Hotel demerger is done. What next for ITC? What should overall shareholders of ITC expect now after this step is done? Are there more on the anvil?
Sanjiv Puri: So, I have often said and of course, it is in the media that I get this question more often than anywhere else, so that the context of structuring depends on business strategy, the competitive context, the opportunity, the business maturity and we look at the pros and cons of either of the options. In the context of business strategy and decide which is the best strategy.
So, in hotels, if you look at it, the opportunity is great, the business is matured, there is huge headroom to grow and we have a good standing today. We have iconic properties, iconic service standards.
So, it is now time for this hotel’s business to be able to accelerate its growth as a pure play entity and at the same time I think benefit from the synergy from ITC because ITC is going to be a strong supporter. ITC still holds 40% and both ITC and ITC Hotels will gain from the synergy and it is the power of synergy that has created a lot of value for all of our stakeholders, whether it is in ITC or in ITC Hotels and that will continue.
