ITPO to raise Rs 1,500 crore to fund hotel project

The commerce ministry's trade promotion body, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) plans to raise around Rs 1,500 crore through loans and by monetising some portion of land at Pragati Maidan in Delhi to part fund the Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre planned there.

The ministry is working on a cabinet note to monetise about 3.7 acres land for construction of a hotel in the upcoming exhibition complex. It will either be given on a long-term lease or on free hold to a private player.

"We plan to raise almost Rs 1,500 crore by means of institutional loans and monetising the land to set up a hotel," said L C Goyal, chairman and managing director of ITPO.

ITPO, a mini-ratna public sector undertaking, runs the exhibition centre, which was inaugurated in 1972 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.