ITC may hike stake upto 25% in EIH & Hotel Leela: Deveshwar

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Q: To go back to strategic hotel investments, at these prices, since you brought up the appreciation in your investment demand, at these prices are you a buyer or a seller?

A: We are waiting for prices to fall. We think that the prices will fall because the results are not good.

Q: Does that mean you are waiting to be able to buy more?

A: Hotel companies are not doing well in India.

Q: Is your group also not doing well?

A: Our group doesn't show up separately; our segment results are better than many others, but if you see Indian Hotels, their share went to Rs 110 and it's come down to some Rs 60.

Q: Are you prowling for such interesting acquisitions n the hotel space?

A: Couldn't call it an acquisition. It's a treasury operation.

Q: You are prowling for more such?

A: Investment in companies.

Q: I know you mentioned Indian Hotels, I know it's an Tata Group company, but are you interested if the price is right?

A: Our treasury operations will decide.

Q: Is the treasury operation actively looking for allied interest?

A: Not actively, because our investment in equity is a very small part of our total investment.

Q: What do you hope to see in the budget?

A: We are hoping that everybody will get together and implement GST because that will be a kicker for the Indian economy that will truly make it a single market and it will also bring efficiency into the supply chain.

Q: Does it reduce your tax burden to some extent? Have you worked out what the benefit would be?

A: It's not so much a matter of tax burden, it will get your supply chain to be very efficient then you can move goods across, you don't have to keep your warehousing separately. So to that degree, it will be a much better thing to do and it also rationalizes tax.

Q: That's not likely to come in the budget itself - we are far away from consensus on that?

A: No, not in the budget, but budgets we don't know, at the end of the day, I will always plead for moderation in taxes. I just heard the British Prime Minister - he has brought the corporate tax down to 24%. So, we would always plead moderation in taxation and also buoyancy, broadening the tax base, I am in favor of the services tax, tax all services at a moderate rate, but have a negative list that you don't tax.

Q: We are very far away from being beaten down to death, but nonetheless?

A: It is because of the potential, you are talking about cigarettes in China they collect USD 16 billion of revenue from cigarettes and their rate of taxation is half of that of ours and we collect just USD 3 billion because we have shrunk the taxable part of the market. So that is the problem.

Q: So is moderation in tax your only anticipation?

A: Moderation in taxes, make it buoyant, broaden the tax base and that is what I would appeal for.