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PM's foster son-in-law to launch hotel management institute

Ranjan Bhattacharya, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's foster son-in-law, is on the verge of foraying into a new business venture: education. He is setting up a hotel management institute that will cater to a hundred students.

"Yes, Ranjan Bhattacharya is associated with the International Institute for Management and Technologies," Vinita Negi, associate manager of the project, affirmed. The institute campus is at Gurgaon in Haryana, roughly a 15-minute drive from the Radisson Hotel, Delhi, she said.

Ranjan Bhattacharya, however, was not available for comment.

Students clearing the three-year hotel management course will be awarded their degrees by Oxford Brookes, University of Oxford. The course fee works out to Rs 200,000 per year for each of the three years. Students successfully passing out of the institute will be absorbed in the international network of the Carlson Hotels chain, sources said.

The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Carlson Hospitality Worldwide is strengthening its presence in India through its subsidiary Country Inns & Suites, a joint venture between Carlson and Ranjan Bhattacharya's Chanakya Hotels, for developing branded properties at eight metro and mini-metro locations.

The joint venture company Country Development and Management Services headed by Ranjan Bhattacharya will franchise, manage and operate the 'Country Inns & Suites By Carlson' properties in India.

Bhattacharya's new venture seems to be on the tracks already. The joint venture, with Chanakya Hotels and Carlson holding 74 per cent and 26 per cent equity respectively, is already developing properties in Katra (Vaishno Devi), Calcutta, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Bombay, Pune, Puri and Cochin. Besides, negotiations are in the final stages for properties at Madras, Mussoorie and Gurgaon.

The Katra and Jalandhar 'Country Inns & Suites By Carlson' will open by November 2000. In the pipeline are 25 more properties including ones at Varanasi, Mangalore, and Ahmedabad. The venture hopes to make five properties ready by mid-2002, another 10 by 2003 and 20 more by 2005.

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