The Indian Hotels Company is considering the strategic acquisition of a boutique hotel brand, as it looks to deliver on a promised growth plan.

The option was one discussed by the company’s chairman, N Chandrasekaran, as he spoke to shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in July 2025. He confirmed a continued investment in growing the business, noting: “We are looking at almost USD1 billion for the next five years.”

Expansion aims to take the business from its current 350 hotels to 500 operating by 2030, with up to 200 more properties signed to a growing pipeline. That growth should see the group’s room inventory jump to 70,000.

A doubling in size

Currently, the IHCL portfolio includes brands such as Taj, Vivanta, Ginger, Gateway, and Seleqtions. In 2024, the group formed a strategic alliance with Tree of Life, adding 16 boutique and unusual properties, and it is more of this type of addition the chairman appears to be referring to.

The group continues its growth path with new signings. In July 2025, it agreed to open a Vivanta branded hotel in Anjuna, Goa. A greenfield project, it will have 110 rooms and conference facilities. The hotel will join IHCL’s existing 18 hotels open or in development in Goa. That followed an earlier signing of another property in the same destination, SeleQtions Anjuna. That hotel will have just 51 rooms, and will be created from the conversion of an existing resort.

In May, the company opened two more hotels across two of its brands. In Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, it launched a 72 room Ginger branded hotel. And in Alibaug, the company opened the Taj Alibaug Resort & Spa, a coastal resort with 156 luxury rooms just a short drive or ferry ride from Mumbai.

Also launching was the Coral Pearl, Lakshadweep, a SeleQtions branded property featuring something more adventurous in terms of accommodation. The destination has 50 glamping tents, each featuring a glazed wall offering panoramic views of the Arabian Sea.

The same month saw the signing of a Ginger hotel in Bommasandra, Bengaluru. This will be a greenfield project with 125 rooms.

One feature of the group’s more rapid expansion will be a change in the tenure of its hotels. Traditionally, IHCL has built its own properties, but now and into the future it expects to sign more management contracts, leaving the ownership and development of hotels to others.

Shifting to management contracts

“Some seven to eight years ago, we used to have 5% management contracts,” Chandrasekaran told the Financial Express publication in India. “Over the next five to ten years we will settle at 35-40% owned hotels and the rest being management contracts.”

However, the company will continue to invest directly in building hotels, in situations where it needs to secure iconic properties, or get into specific locations. One such example is in Mumbai, where IHCL is developing a luxury hotel adjacent to its Taj Land’s End. The new hotel will have 250 rooms, and will represent a considerable direct investment.