Sahara India to turn Centaur Hotel to corporate office complex

The Mumbai Centaur Hotel had changed hands for Rs 83 crore from Hotel Corporation of India to Batra Hospitality only three months ago. In fact Batra Hospitality would end up making a profit of Rs 37 crore in this short time by further selling the property to the Sahara Group.

When asked if such a quick sale of a disinvested entity was permitted, a senior official of the Ministry of Disinvestment said that ‘the agreement between the Government and buyer ie, Batra Hospitality does not include any clause preventing re-sale of the property’. There is no provision of lock-in period too hence the buyer can do anything with the property according to the masterplan, he added.

Since the hotel already has a commercial license, its conversion doesn’t need any new license, the Sahara official said. The move has been taken because hotel industry is already going through rough patches and Sahara India is not into running hotels, he explained.

The property has been brought by Sahara India on ‘as is where is’ basis. It has already taken the total management control of the 280-room hotel and the new entity is expected to take shape in next few months.