Shareholders of ITC Hotels on Friday approved a dividend of 30 per cent for the year ended March 31, 1997.

The shareholders also approved all other resolutions at the annual general meeting. The accounts for the year 1996-97 were also adopted. K L Thapar and D P Naganand who retired this year were re-elected. The dividend is slightly higher than the dividend of 27.5 per cent declared in the previous year. The company's chairman, Y C Deveshwar, told the annual general meeting that ITC Hotels has a major expansion plan and in the next few years would, together with the parent company ITC, invest Rs 1,200 crore on new projects. The only problem, he pointed out, was availability of land in prime locations. The shareholders asked the chairman why ITC Hotels was not setting up projects abroad. ITC Hotels wants to consolidate its position in the country first before taking up projects abroad, the chairman said. Referring to opportunities in the tourism sector, he cited the comparative performance of neighbours like China and Malaysia and said the country deserves to do much better.

"Because of infrastructural inadequacies, the tourism targets have been modest. Once the infra-structure is in place for which the government is taking initiatives and setting the tone for faster development, we should be in a position to host the expected waves of travellers in both the business and leisure segments. This will make hotels a sunrise industry of tomorrow."

According to the director's report, work is in progress on a 340-room hotel in Mumbai and on the expansion of Maurya Sheraton in Delhi. Once the legal dispute is cleared, the Calcutta project will also get off the ground.

The report told shareholders that ITC Hotels limited proposes to enter into a joint venture with the owners of Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Marudhar Hotels Ltd, to manage and market heritage properties.

ITC Hotel's subsidiary, Fortune Parks Hotels, currently operates two hotels-in Trichy and in Trivandrum. Four additional properties are being developed which include hotels at Allahabad and Ahmedabad. These are scheduled to open later this year.

Deveshwar spoke of the "unfavourable market conditions last year" in spite of which the results were good "because of an all-round improvement in marketing, service standards and their delivery and cost management. At the same time there was no compromise with the imperatives of modernisation, growth and development."

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.