The Corporation is also redesigning and restructuring the existing duty-free shops at the Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram airports after bagging the Airport Authority of India's (AAI) global tenders for running them for the next five years.

Speaking to The Financial Express, ITDC chairperson and managing director Asha Murty said the Corporation had identified the duty-free shops as its thrust area of operation, as the shops would be the major revenue earner after the ITDC hotels were disinvested. "Our entire attention is now on the duty free shops, as we realise that the area holds a lot of potential," she said.

The duty-free shops earned a profit of Rs 83.5 crore last fiscal and this year, it is expected to go up to Rs 92 crore. Ms Murty is confident that the figures would rise much higher next year, once the new shops became operational. The ITDC would also hire market researchers to identify products which were most in demand by the targetted buyers at the airports.

"It has been observed that a number of products which had been bought for the duty-free shops several years ago have remained unsold. There is a need to replace such products with better items which are more in demand," Ms Murty said.

Ms Murty has already visited a number of existing shops and examined the products available there. "I have made notes of the ways in which the shops could be improved," she said.

The new duty-free shops would be set up with the best quality Indian merchandise, Ms Murty said. She added that the corporation was looking into new brands with the purpose of introducing them in the shops.

"ITDC's thrust would be on marketing our shops well, so that we attract the maximum number of buyers. We will work towards promoting India as an attractive destination for duty-free shoppers," Ms Murty added.