Indian Automobile Industry Analysis
It is second only to the oil industry, in terms of turnover and exchange of foreign currency. The Indian hospitality industry is growing at a rate of 6% and is expected to reach INR 230 billion by 2015. It contributes around 2. 2% to its GDP. According to The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), this industry employees 24 lakh people, which is around 8.
78 % of the total employed population in India. This makes it one of the most sought after industry for the cross fertilization of cultures.
The hospitality industry is a cluster of fields within the overall service sector that includes odging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. Hotels and restaurants would be the key focus of the article revolving around the phenomenon of the liberalization, the tangible trends it has adopted and intangible prospects it has provided. While on one side there has been an immense advancement in technology and global capital market, on the flip side even a microscopic change in other economies has a cascading effect to the industry.
Information like sector status, operating erformance and hotel classifications will be supplementing the fundamentals.
The numerous initiatives taken by the government to unlock the potential has helped to prevent the brain drain to an extent. In fact, with globalization and liberalization, top talent from the developed countries is increasingly considering working for the Indian hospitality industry. Is it the right time to “Check In”! mfou will not get a doomsday story from the hospitality sector, because there isn’t one,” says Chris Moloney, Chief Operating Officer, South West Asia, and India head at IHG.
Competing in todays global market is intimidating. In 2001, after much debate, FDI in this industry was increased from 74 per cent to 100 per cent through the automatic route.
Although after this major reform, the inflow of FDI in the hospitality industry has been negligible accounting of about only 1. 5% per cent of the total FDI of $50. 8 billion accrued by the country. Figure 1: FDI inflow in the hospitality sector in India Source: Ministry ot State tor Tourism, March, 2 Liberal Growth Hotels, resorts, restaurants, theme parks, cruise line, and other services like event planning fall under the territory of hospitality industry.
Today the industry is growing at a flat rate of 5. 5-6% and is contributing about 2.
2% to the annual GDP of India. Several drivers like the strong economic recoveries coupled with several initiatives taken by the government have led the industry to sustain this growth. Need for liberalization was noticed due to the under-performing government run hotels which were then privatized and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was let in, after which the industry showed a remarkable growth of 10. 1% in 1992. Since the new liberalized economic policies were introduced, India has reformed itself into a polish of global ttraction.
The three major political drivers that led to the formation of a liberalized sector were grant of 100% FDI under automatic route, approval of hotels in the project stage and tax holidays in respect of hotels. Other regulatory drivers like that of abolition of Customs Duty on import of capital infrastructure, technology, and beverages, Fringe Benefit Tax exempted on sales promotion including publicity, use of hotel, boarding, aircraft, festival celebration, etc and exemption of Luxury Tax and Sales Tax for 5-7 Years for new projects.
The path to a liberalized industry was not ust achieved by the regulatory drivers but were coupled with various external and internal drivers such as strong GDP growth and tourist arrival statistics, tourism campaigns led by government like that of ‘Incredible India’, international events like that of ‘Indian Premier League’, ‘Indian Grand Prix’, ‘Commonwealth Games’, and the rising disposable income of the economies at large.
India in its Journey of two decades since liberalization has come a long way and has bought itself second in Asia-Pacific only to China in terms of successful hospitality although it is ranked as 2th in Asia-Pacific in terms of the world’s attractive destinations. Today this industry thrives on the booming market of hotels and restaurants, as other services which it gathers are generally brief and discontinuous. Hotel industry: A Glance In the world of emerging business and corporate culture, the hotel industry is setting up a place for itself, with its budding appeal and string of career-building opportunities.
The history of Indian Hotel Industry dates back to the era of World War II, during which most hotels in India were developed in locations that were frequented by the British and Indian aristocracy. During this period major development can be acknowledged to individual entrepreneurs, with only a few companies owning hotels in India, such as The Taj Group-Indian Hotel Company (owned by J. R. D. Tata) and Faletti’s Hotel, East India Hotels-Oberoi Group. The Hotel Industry has come a long way from then to now, owing to various factors, most importantly the various changes in policies by the government.
At the end of 2010 the Indian hotel industrys worth was estimated around IJS$ 17 billion. With Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) inflows marked at IJS$ 3450 million from April 2000 to July 012 towards the hotel industrys contribution to the Indian economy,a lot of major hotels have announced their plans to expand their footprints in India, result of which the domestic hospitality sector is expected to see investments of over Rs 26,000 crore by 2017, with many international brands making their presence in the country in the next few years.
Umbrella of Hotels The notel industry in India can be divided into segments namely Star rated hotels, Heritage hotels, Budget hotels, Resorts and Clubs and unclassified hotels. The star hotels are further classified into six categories: Five star deluxe, Five star, Four star, Three star, Two star, One star. However, the 3-star, 2-star, Istar and unclassified hotels in India are spread across the country and are highly dispersed in nature, whereas, the upscale, mid market and heritage categories are highly structured.
Moreover Travel is not anymore limited to the elite since it has opened up to anyone and everyone due to improved standard of living and increase of leisure time. This new set of travelers’ is not necessarily looking for a hotel experience but for a comfortable place to stay overnight which has given a rise to the concept of Budget hotels. Also, expansion of business activity in Tier II & Tier Ill cities like Pune, Bhubhaneshwar, Jaipur, Mangalore etc has led to increased demand of budget hotels in these cities.
IHCL has already launched budget hotels in India, while Accor has announced plans to introduce its budget hotel brand, Formulel, in the country. Also, there has been increased diversification into niche segments like wildlife lodges, theme based resorts, spas and medi-cities in order to generate additional revenue.
The serviced- apartment concept is gaining ground in India with increasing number of expatriates and travelers staying for long durations. Taj Wellington Mews, Homestead Serviced Apartments, Marriott Executive Apartments, Star City, Grand Hyatt Residences and Seasons can be quoted as few examples of serviced apartments.
Consistent change has made a positive impact on the productivity of this industry as it not helped in improving the functionality, but also enhanced its popularity in other nations. In the past one decade, the services offered and also the standards of facilities in hotel industry have undergone a complete makeover with the help of latest technology, environment-friendly services and pocket friendly ricing. The government policy of single window clearance for any hotel project under which The Ministry of Tourism approves hotels at project stage based on documentation has resulted into a positive achievement for this industry.
Also, the government has made many positive reforms under the category of tax holidays to absorb the capacity expansion in the hotel infrastructure. This benefit is currently limited to only 2, 3 and 4 star hotels and proposal has been made to extend it to 5 star hotels as well. Provision of tax rebate equal to 100% of the profit and gain for the irst 5 consecutive years to an hotel located in the specified district having a World Heritage Site and has started functioning before 31st March, 2013 has encouraged many people to set up hotels which will lead to creation of more quality Jobs as well.
Finance Bill 2009, which has proposed to abolish Fringe Benefit Tax with effect from 1st April 2009, has become major advantage to the hospitality industry. Inflow of Players With the liberalized reforms and prominent globalization, lot of foreign players brought diverse culture, new technologies, multi-cuisine, and ideas with them. Earlier, intercontinental players pierced the country by creating alliances with the national hotel chains.
However, recently, some international players have taken the inorganic route to strengthen their presence in the country.
