Tata group-owned Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), India’s largest by market capitalization, is set to have 700 hotels in its portfolio-before the target year of 2030-in 2026-27, said Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and chief executive officer, indicating that new aims would have to be set for the coming years.

“We’re looking forward to management giving revised development guidance on Accelerate 2030, middle of November,” Chhatwal told Business Standard in an interaction following the results for the quarter ended September (Q2FY27), which showed net profit had risen 23 per cent to ₹349 crore and revenues had gone up 21 per cent to ₹2,566 crore over the same quarter the previous year. The company had signed 47 hotels in FY27 till September, taking the total to 670.

In 2024, it had targeted 700 in its portfolio by 2030. The company has also upgraded its consolidated revenue-growth guidance from 12-14 per cent to 15-17 per cent for FY27. Its pipeline of the number of rooms stands at 34,800.

“With 390 operational hotels, we are on track to crossing the 400-hotel milestone in November or, at the outside, before the end of the third quarter,” Chhatwal told analysts during the earnings call on Wednesday. It is aiming to open 30 hotels in the second half of FY27, taking the total to 50 for the full year.

The company will continue to push expansion through acquisition with over ₹4,369 crore of free cash flow, which will have to be deployed, even after putting in a record capex of ₹500 crore in the first half of FY27, which was higher than the previous year’s full-year capex, he said in the interaction.

The free cash also allowed it the flexibility to invest in hotel upgrades, expansion, greenfield development, and asset-management opportunities.

IHCL expects strong quarters ahead with high demand from social and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) events, besides the uptick seen during the initial festival period starting October. In the quarter ended September, the company’s board approved an all-stock merger of IHCL and its associate company Oriental Hotels Ltd (OHL). This will be completed by April.

In addition, Chhatwal said the share of the Ginger, a mid-segment hotel, in the hotel portfolio would continue to be the largest by the number of hotels, having crossed 100 last quarter, while the Taj brand will continue to elevate the value for the group. “Every district (headquarters) of India should have a Ginger and metros like Mumbai or Delhi can have 10, 20, 30 or even 40 Gingers,” Chhatwal said.