The luxurious Delhi hotel, Taj Mansingh is all set to be auctioned on the coming Friday by New Delhi Municipal Council. There were only two bidders in the list name Indian Hotels Company Ltd. (IHCL) and ITC. The judgement day is likely to decide whether IHCL is able to continue the possession of Taj or not.
As reported by Business Standard, an industry official stated, “Once NDMC evaluates the technical bids, it can hold the e-auction on September 28. Only two bids were received for the asset.”
NDMC faced difficulties in finding bidders and hence had to ease the eligibility requirement for auction. It has previously made two failed attempts to auction the hotel. The Civil body had brought down the financial requirement from the gross turnover of ₹400 crore to ₹350 crore along with minimising the least numbers of bidders from three to two.
NDMC and IHCL in the late 1970s signed a lease agreement with which the hotel was provided with a lease of 33 years. The supreme court provided several lease extension before permitting for auction in April this year.