Chatwal to open chain of hotels in India

NEW DELHI: Sant Singh Chatwal, a sikh Indian-American businessman, will invest Rs 4,500 crore by 2009 for setting up a chain of hotels, including 7-star, in India.

All hotels would be state-of-the-art with different food restaurants, discotheques and conference rooms. "We want to create convention centres with a capacity for 2,000-3,000 people in every hotel," Chatwal, President and CEO of Hampshire Hotels and Resorts (HHR) said.

"We are doing the master planning for phase-I, which includes high-end 7-star hotels in major cities like Delhi/Noida, Mumbai and Bangalore and dream hotels in Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai," he said.

"India is a virgin country in the hospitality sector... I would like to explore the potential here," said Chatwal.

Elaborating on the business plans, he said he has already acquired land in Bangalore, Noida, Kochi and Hyderabad while negotiations are on in Mumbai and Chennai.

HHR owns hotels in the US, UK and Thailand with over 2,500 rooms in Manhattan. Along with this, the 1.5 billion dollar group has set up Bombay Palace locations around the world including Montreal, Toronto, New York, Washington, Houston, Budapest and Kuala Lumpur.

Chatwal is a trustee of former US President Bill Clinton's William Clinton Foundation, which focuses on global issues of health, security, economic empowerment (HIV/AIDS initiative).