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NR Chatwal to set up hotels in India This seems to be the age of homecoming for big-ticket NRI investments. After Lakshmi Mittal and Swraj Paul, another NRI entrepreneur Sant Singh Chatwal is now planning to pump in Rs 1,000 crore in India to set up a chain of boutique hotels under his Dream Hotel brand. Chatwal -- who was last seen in India hosting the big, fat wedding for his son Vikram -- is close to finalising deals for acquiring land for setting up Dream Hotel properties in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Next on the agenda are similar boutique hotels in Chennai, Hyderabad. "The formal announcement of hotel business debut in the Indian market will be made by this year-end. I have almost closed the deal for one property and ‘am in advanced negotiations for two others. In all, I will be investing Rs 1,000 crore to set up these three hotels," Chatwal told ToI. Dream Hotel is part of his $750-million Hamshire Hotels & Resorts chain, which has a presence in the US, Canada and UK. The first Dream Hotel in India, Chatwal said, will be operational by the end of 2007 or early 2008. "All the five hotels will be green field properties and will be built from scratch... The entire expansion into India will be funded through internal accruals." "The entry into the Indian market is part of our plan to expand out global footprint in the hospitality industry, under which the first Asian property was inaugurated this week in Bangkok. Besides, efforts are underway to establish similar boutique hotels in Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur,' said Chatwal -- one of the most influential Indians in Manhattan and known to be close to the Clintons and Democratic Party. The Dream Hotel properties in India, sources said, will be planned on the same lines as their New York counterparts, with branded Deepak Chopra Ayurvedic Health Spas to boot. The hospitality venture is, in a way, Chatwal's second coming into the business arena in India. Around two decades back, the family had established a restaurant in the country, which had failed to take-off. "Things have changed now and India today is on the verge of a boom. This is the right time to be here."
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