International Group To Set Up 10 Hotel Management Institutes In India

EH&C Staff - Mumbai

Kolkata-based International Group along with a Malaysia-based financial institute will invest a total of Rs 75 crore to set up 10 hotel management institutes in tourist destinations across the country.

50 crore of this investment will come from the Malaysian institute as a foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) loan which, according to the International Group, would give shape to the group's vision to play in the big league by setting up institutes across the country and abroad. The rest of the Rs 25 crore will be raised through internal accrual.

Some of the places that have been slotted include Darjeeling, Puri, Ooty, Mussourie, Goa, Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata. The group is strengthening its alliance with Queens Margaret University College (QMUC), Edinburgh, UK and is also in the process of typing up with Sterling Resorts to repossess commercial properties in Goa, Ooty and Mussourie to turn them into hotel schools.

The group is also planning to set up a hotel management school in Dubai in collaboration with QMUC. Dubai has 45 five-star hotels but not enough hotel management institute to keep up with the demand for certified professionals. Investments for this project would be to the tune of Rs 10 crore. Students who study at the institutes will also have the option of taking up their final year studies at QMUC.

Said Suborno Bose, founder of the International Group "QMUC's collaboration with the International Group is significant in the light of Britain's aggressive intervention in the education business in various Asian countries. The hotel management schools will be run on the Swiss concept of combining a commercial hotel with a hotel management training institute so that students can work in a real life hotel environment even while studying."