Disinvestment only a policy decision: ITDC
India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) completed 50 years and is focused on diversifying into different avenues while putting disinvestment woes behind.
The corporation celebrated its Golden Jubilee during a grand event at its flagship hotel The Ashok, New Delhi. Present at the glittering ceremony were dignitaries from the travel and tourism industry, government officials and ITDC staff members. Speaking at the event, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, said, “ITDC has had a glorious past, and the way things are going, I wish it’d have a more glorious future. When ITDC was set up in 1966, there was little infrastructure about hotels, and today not only it is an icon in hospitality, it has diversified into travel and tours and event management as well. It is one of the two pillars of the travel and tour arrangement regime of the government along with Balmer Lawrie Tours & Travel. We are proud of this moment and as ITDC is an extended family of the tourism ministry, we are celebrating this occasion.”
Umang Narula, Chairman & Managing Director, ITDC, said that they had started the Golden Jubilee celebrations last year. “We had a small internal function last year and throughout this year, we have been doing some activities related with the celebration. We are offering various kinds of discounts, incentives to customers and stakeholders, and this celebration is a good occasion to meet our industry friends, partners and clients, who have supported us for the last 50 years.”
He also insisted that ITDC has been recording profits for the last couple of years. “We’ve been doing pretty well for the last three years. We’ve been giving dividends to the government. Last year, we had a profit of roughly ` 33 crore and over the last 50 years, we have given dividends over ` 130 crore. Even this year, our first quarter results have been really good and we are expecting to do well during the latter part of the year as well.”
However, there have been talks of ITDC’s disinvestment. Zutshi clarified, “I have seen ITDC’s performance this year, and from April till August this year, we have done ` 19 cores of net profit, as compared to four crores in the corresponding period last year. Disinvestment is only a policy decision of sharing the units by leasing or giving it to other stakeholders. However, it is not going to affect the morale if ITDC staff, as we are going to diversify into other areas, and in that regard, only sky is the limit for ITDC.”
Narula added, “The disinvestment is going on and it’s not happening for the first time for ITDC. We have gone through one phase and we have come out of that much stronger. We have made all the disclosures to the stock exchanges. I would not like to focus on it too much because there are so many opportunities, as we have built up our strength in many other verticals. There are some areas we are doing very well and we will focus on them, including tours and travels, events, and hospitality education. We are also looking at many other areas and grow in those fields as well.”
India is going to be a partner country at WTM, and ITDC will be part of the MOT delegation. We have many products to showcase there and we will be doing B2B meetings to get more business for the company. Umang Narula Chairman & Managing Director, ITDC
He added that ITDC is trying to grow The Ashok Travels and Tours division and venture into new areas. “We have launched a new set of tour packages recently and are also updating our portal. We are also trying to get into the logistics and cargo business,” he revealed.