New Delhi, Jul 17: Tata Group-owned Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) on Thursday reported a 26.56 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 329.32 crore in the first quarter of FY26. The country's biggest hospitality player posted a net profit of Rs 260.19 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
Its total income from operations stood at Rs 2,102.17 crore during the April-June quarter, against Rs 1,596.27 crore in the year-ago period. The company's total expenses also increased to Rs 1,662.35 crore, from Rs 1,267.78 crore a year ago, a regulatory filing showed.
"Q1 FY2026 marks the thirteenth consecutive quarter of record performance. In line with our guidance, the company reported a double-digit growth in consolidated revenue," Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IHCL, said in a statement.
Revenue from the hotel segment grew by 14 per cent to Rs 1,814 crore, leading to a strong EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) margin of 31.4 per cent, the statement said.
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"This performance was enabled by diversification of our top line across same-store hotels, not like-for-like growth and New Businesses consolidated revenue growing by 27 per cent over the previous year. The hospitality sector, despite geopolitical headwinds, continues to show resilience and sustained growth," Chhatwal said.
Further, he said IHCL continued its growth momentum with 12 signings, taking the portfolio to over 390 hotels and opened six new hotels in the quarter under review.
He told PTI that recent incidents, including the airline tragedy in Gujarat, Operation Sindoor or the Middle East conflict, have cost the company 2.5-3 per cent topline.
"Whether it is an unfortunate airline tragedy in Gujarat or it is Operation Sindoor or the Middle East conflict...it led to a lot of cancellations.
"However, the demand came back very strong...It will be fair to say, around what we are communicating as a guidance, is 2.5-3 per cent of the top line was lost because of these disturbances during the first quarter of this fiscal," he added.
He said IHCL continued its growth momentum with 12 signings, taking the portfolio to over 390 hotels, and opened 6 new hotels in the quarter. When asked about Taj Bandstand, Chhatwal said, the hotel will take maybe 4 years to complete.
"In the interim, we have received the MOEF (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) approval, the commencement certificate (CC), the litigation on the public interest litigation (PIL) and the height from the airport (authorities) are left. We only want 15 meters more.
"And CC is the formality. The only thing that needs to be removed now is to get rid of PIL, with the help of the government," he added. Talking about hotel openings, he said, last year IHCL signed 74 agreements and this year the company will definitely open 13 properties.
"September to March will be very high in openings, which is also good because, again, the second half is a better time for most of the locations. "We are also evaluating and looking at other inorganic opportunities as we are debt-free and we have a lot of cash reserves," Chhatwal added.
Talking about overseas plans, he said, it is limited to the Taj brand. "In 3 months, we are opening two Taj properties in Bhutan, Phobjikha and Paro (Nepal). These are Brownfield projects. We are under development in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia. We will open, by the end of January 2026, a Taj hotel in Frankfurt (Germany). So, our overseas expansion is limited to the Taj brand," he said.
On taking the rest of the IHCL brands overseas, he said, "Maybe in 2-3 years if opportunities come up. But first, we need to establish the presence of the Taj."
