Chhatwal: Pure asset-light hotel model is not India's future
Puneet Chhatwal · Why A 25-Year-Old Should Build A Hotel, Not An App | MakeMyTrip x Taj | WTF is Travel? · Sep 9, 2026 · at 2:29:20
Puneet Chhatwal, MD and CEO of IHCL (Taj Hotels), responds to Nikhil Kamath's question on whether Indian hotel chains will transition to asset-light brand licensing like Marriott.
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“Not really. Not in India. So we are talking about India, right? India is still a very promoter driven country and In order to qualify for prime piece of, ah, any kind of real estate and to be able to participate in those RFPs, need to find the model, and even if you find the model and you have a hybrid, I think you still need to have a right balance between real estate, and if you wanted to call it asset heavy and asset light.”
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