The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is an Indian

hospitality company The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars. Sectors ...

that manages a portfolio of hotels, resorts, jungle safaris, palaces, spas and in-flight catering services. The company is part of India's

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

. The

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the company is Puneet Chhatwal. Its major shareholders are Tata Trusts. The flagship hotel of the company is

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel in the Colaba area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Saracenic Revival style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has histor ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. IHCL was founded in 1899 by

Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji (Jamshedji) Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian pioneer industrialist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. Named the greatest philanthropist of the last century by several poll ...

and is headquartered in

. It has more than 250 hotels in 107 locations across 4 continents and in 10 countries, with over 21,000 rooms.

History

The company was founded by Tata Group founder and industrialist

Jamshedji Tata Jamsetji (Jamshedji) Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian pioneer industrialist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. Named the greatest philanthropist of the last century by several poll ...

. He incorporated Indian Hotels Company Limited in 1899 and registered in 1902. The first hotel of the company was opened — The

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbhat ...

neighbourhood of

was opened in 1903. It was the first five star hotel in India with modern elevators and Russian carpets. In 1980 the

Taj Group Taj may refer to: Buildings *Taj Mahal, a medieval mausoleum in the Indian city of Agra *Taj Palace, an Abbasid palace in medieval Baghdad *Taj-ul-Masajid, mosque in Bhopal * Taj building, Nowshera, Pakistan *Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, inte ...

opened their first international hotels: the

Taj Sheba Hotel Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Incorporated by Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglom ...

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

and the Taj Pamodzi in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. IHCL entered the Sri Lankan market with Taj Exotica Bentota and

Taj Samudra Taj Samudra, trading as TAL Lanka Hotels PLC, is a five-star luxury hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The hotel is a listed company on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1982 and the majority of the shares are held by Taj Hotels. The hotel is located ri ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. In joint venture with

G. V. Krishna Reddy Gunapati Venkata Krishna Reddy (born 22 March 1937) is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. GVK Reddy is the founder and chairman of GVK Group, a business conglomerate with a predominant focus on infrastructure development. GVK Reddy also heads ...

Taj Hotels Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Incorporated by Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglom ...

form Taj GVK which started mega scale businesses in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

with Taj Banjara, Taj Krishna and Taj Deccan. IHCL entered

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern market with opening a hotel in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

— the Taj Palace Hotel Dubai. Next year the company opened three more hotels — the Regent Hotel in

, Rawal-Kot in

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed "The Golden city", is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

and

Usha Kiran Palace Usha Kiran Palace is a heritage hotel, adjacent to Jai Vilas Mahal on a 9-acre land in Gwalior built by the royal Scindia dynasty of the Marathas. The management of the five-star hotel is done by Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. The hotel makes ...

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

Secretary Clinton Is Greeted By Taj Coromandel Employees

The company planned to open hotels in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...

and

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

. Taj Surya was opened in

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

and later renamed as

Vivanta Vivanta is an Indian hotel chain established in September 2010. The brand is a part of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, a subsidiary of the TATA Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. E ...

. Every brand of IHCL built hotels in every major city of India. IHCL also operates TajSATS Air Catering, in a joint venture with SATS (formerly known as Singapore Airport Terminal Services). In May 2017, IHCL announced it was moving all of its hotels under a unique brand, Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris. The brands Vivanta by Taj and Gateway were merged into a single business unit. During the summer of 2017,

Cyrus Mistry Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (4 July 1968 – 4 September 2022) was an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of the Tata Group, an Indian business conglomerate, from 2012 to 2016. He was the sixth chairman of the group, and only the second (af ...

stated that some of the group's latest costly acquisitions (Sea Rock Hotel,

The Pierre The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze & Weaver, the hotel opened in 1930 with 100+ employees, n ...

in New York,

Taj Boston The Newbury Boston is a historic luxury hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1927 as The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The property is a Boston landmark and anchors fashionable Newbury Street and the picturesque Boston Public Garden, located in the ...

) "destroyed the economic value of the company". The unique brand decision was reversed in 2018. In April 2018, the group opened its first location in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

through a partnership with the Umm al-Qura construction company. In April 2019, IHCL launched the hotel brand SeleQtions with 12 location openings. In May 2019, IHCL signed a strategic partnership with

GIC Private Limited GIC Private Limited is a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore that manages its foreign reserves. Established by the Government of Singapore in 1981 as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, its mission is to preserve and enhance the ...

(Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) to acquire 600 million dollars' worth of hotel assets over three years. Vivanta_Kolkata_EM_Bypass

Brands

Governance

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

: Puneet Chhatwal Major Share Holders - Tata Sons (35.74%)

Notable Hotels

Philanthropy

IHCL have partnered with

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage in India. Taj Welfare Trust distributed nutritious meals to doctors in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Gallery

File:Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai (Bombay).jpg, alt=,

File:Hotel Taj Connemara, Chennai, India.jpg, alt=,

Taj Connemara Taj Connemara, Chennai is a five-star hotel in Chennai, India. It is a heritage hotel in Chennai. Classified under the Taj Group's business hotels section, the 127-year-old hotel is considered the oldest hotel in the city. History The proper ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

File:Belvadere Road 'Taj Bengal' (1).jpg, alt=,

Taj Bengal Taj Bengal is an Indian luxury hotel in Kolkata, operated by the Taj Hotels and designed by American architect Bob Fox. The hotel was inaugurated on 10 October 1989 by Jyoti Basu, who was then the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The hotel was ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

File:Taj Falaknuma Garden.jpg, alt=, Taj Falaknuma Palace in

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

File:Exterior view of Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi.jpg, alt=, Taj Mahal Hotel,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

File:MG Road, Bangalore1.jpg, alt=, Taj MG Road in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

References

External links

* {{Nifty 200 companies Companies based in Mumbai Indian companies established in 1899 Indian companies established in 1902 Hospitality companies established in 1899 Hospitality companies of India Hospitality companies Indian Hotels Company Limited Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange