ITC Hotels Ltd.

“ITC Hotels is a credible but structurally average luxury hotel operator — owned real estate creates genuine physical barriers in tier-1 Indian cities, but ROCE barely clears cost of capital, there is no competitive global loyalty platform, and management's post-demerger pivot to asset-light remains unproven. The India hospitality market is an exceptional long-term growth story, but at 43.5x trailing and 33x forward earnings with a margin of safety scored at 3.5/10, the risk-reward is unattractive relative to IHCL which executes the same thesis with better scale and capital efficiency at a comparable multiple. Base-case 10-year returns of roughly 2-3x are plausible but uninspiring for the price paid; a correction toward INR 120-130 or sustained evidence of ROIC improvement would materially improve the investment case.”