Citing a shortage of hotel rooms and the need to promote the hospitality industry, the state government is planning to increase the Floor Space Index (FSI) for star hotels in Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad. The FSI for star hotels in these cities would now be raised manifold to 3.5 bringing it on par with the new FSI allowed for hotels in Navi Mumbai and the suburbs of Mumbai. In South Mumbai too, recently the FSI was raised to 5, 4 and 3 for five-star, four-star and three star hotels respectively. “From the tourism point of view, it was felt necessary to give a boost to the acute shortage of hotel rooms in other cities in Maharashtra too,” said an official from the state urban department.

“An increase in FSI is required in cases where land is in short supply. However, in Nagpur and Aurangabad, land is extensive so an increase in FSI is not really required. Pune, as in the case of Mumbai, will benefit from the FSI increase for hotels as this will make the projects more viable,” said Akshay Kulkarni, director, South Asia for Cushman and Wakefield (Hospitality). Kulkarni added that the increase will hopefully address the dearth of hotels rooms at the right price. With the onslaught of the slump, the hotel industry in India at present is witnessing high vacancy rates. “Most of this additional inventory will be released in the next two years,” said Kulkarni. At present there are 74 government approved hotels in Mumbai alone with a total of 9503 rooms.