Putting its ambitious convention centre-cum-hotel project in Surat on a fast track, Bhagwati Banquets and Hotels Limited has planned to commence business from November this year. Spread across 550,000 square feet, the convention centre-cum-hotel is touted as the biggest in the country by the Ahmedabad-based hospitality player.
Entailing an investment of Rs 136 crore, the project will see a 55,000-sft convention centre, apart from a 180-room five-star hotel. Besides, the property will see a club, conference rooms and space for recreation activities, among others.
“We will be opening up the property for business from November. This is going to be the largest convention centre in a hotel. We expect the convention centre-cum-hotel to earn revenues of Rs 80-90 crore by the end of the 2009-10 financial year,” Narendra Somani, chairman and managing director of Bhagwati Banquets, told Business Standard.
Last year, Bhagwati Banquets and Hotels was in talks with several foreign institutional investors and venture funds. However, Somani said the company will not be tying up with any such firms for a while and will be investing on its own.
While the company, which recently launched a business hotel in Ahmedabad under a tie up with US-based Carlson Group, is in talks with other hospitality players for similar projects, Somani said it will only finalise deals in the third quarter of the 2009-10 financial year.
Having pegged a turnover of close to Rs 70 crore in 2008-09, Bhagwati Banquets is expecting to record revenues of Rs 85 crore by the end of the current financial year. Bullish on the convention centre-cum-hotel project in Surat, Somani added that the company expects to cross the Rs 200-crore revenue mark by the end of 2010-11.