Tata Realty and Infra to foray into hospitality

To commence work on two projects, add Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) of business Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, is foraying into retail and hospitality segments through a new subsidiary, TRIL Hospitality Services.

The company, which has about Rs 6,000-crore (Rs 60-billion) projects at hand, would also commence work on two more projects, and this would add business of Rs 3,000 crore, said a senior TRIL Infopark executive.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Estate South 2012 conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, C Velan, executive director and chief executive, TRIL Infopark, said, "It is a recent development, and we have not yet started execution. While we were exploring options for future plans, we identified opportunities in three segments -- retail, senior living space and the hospitality segment."

The hospitality segment would include two parts: Developing living space for senior citizens, for which management would be outsourced to a third party, and the development of gateway and four star hotels, which would also be operated by another company. The management of living space for senior citizens and hotels is likely to be offered to a Tata Group hospitality firm, though some international players are also being considered.

"We are collaborating with an international company to operate and manage the senior living segment. We are looking at a model which is new to India, but prevalent in countries like the US," Velan said.

Unlike the normal retirement home business model, in which the developer sells the property to customers, TRIL Hospitality Services' senior living space would be leased to customers on a long-term basis, of five, 10 and 15-year durations. The requirements of the customers, including medical support, would be met by the operator.

The company has identified potential locations like Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Coimbatore for the senior living space business and plans to start with Chennai. It is studying market opportunities and would soon come up with an announcement in this regard by the end of the current financial year.

The hotels would be developed without creating competition with the group's existing hospitality business.

Under its commercial real estate business, it is already developing a retail 700,000 sft project in Amritsar. About 70 per cent of the location has already been leased out, and the project is expected to start by September. The retail segment would provide the company a potential business opportunity, said Velan. So far, it has developed 4.5 million sft of information technology space and 1.8 million sft of residential real estate, apart from the retail project in Amritsar.

The company has projects worth about Rs 6,000 crore at hand and another Rs 3,000-crore projects, one in Gurgaon and two in Bangalore in the retail and commercial space segments, would be added in the near future.

TRIL was set up as a subsidiary of Tata Sons to serve as a real estate and infrastructure development arm. Currently, it is active in developing commercial space and roads. It is also in the process of bidding for the Navi Mumbai Airport.

TRIL has also developed the Ramanujam IT City in Chennai, under special purpose vehicle TRIL Infopark Limited, in collaboration with Indian Hotels Company Limited and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.