NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 10: Leading hotelier and Rajya Sabha MP Lalit Suri passed away on Monday morning after a heart attack. Suri died at a London hotel. He was attending a business conference with industry association Ficci. He was 60.

Suri was recently in the news for taking over Asia’s oldest hotel, the Great Eastern, from the West Bengal government and announcing a Rs 125 crore revival package for it.

But in a career that spanned several decades as chairman and managing director of Bharat Hotels, he had become a businessman known for spotting opportunities. Suri’s personal and business interests included aviation, exports, automobile ancillaries, real estate, telecom and information technology as well as newspaper publishing. He was also known as an art collector and philanthropist.

Born on April 15, 1947 in Rawalpindi, Suri was trained as an automobile engineer and entered the hospitality industry after he took over Bharat Hotels in 1987, following diversification of the family-run business, Delhi Automobile Ltd.

The company’s first project, InterContinental The Grand, in Delhi, commissioned in 1988, is now among Delhi’s most successful hotels. The Grand hotels have a presence in Srinagar, Goa and Mumbai as well, apart from three ‘The Grand’ hotels in Bangalore, Udaipur and Khajuraho. Three more are planned — The Grand Great Eastern in Kolkata, The Grand Resort, Bekal, and The Grand Ahmedabad.

By 2009 the company planned to offer more than 3,000 rooms with hotels in Chennai, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Noida, Hyderabad, Amritsar and other key cities. Suri was actively involved in promoting tourism and was Global Executive Committee member of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Suri was also chairman of Ficci’s Tourism Committee, and President of the Hotel Association of India. He was awarded the Government of India’s Special Award for InterContinental The Grand Palace in Srinagar and was recognised for contributions to tourism development in the State.

Saroj Poddar, president, Ficci, said, “I have lost a good friend and Ficci will miss a leader of his stature. Assocham president Anil Agarwal said, “He was known in business circles as an astute man with vision and was held in high esteem both in India and the international community. We sincerely mourn his sudden passing away.”

CII president R. Seshasayee said, “In Lalit Suri we have lost a very active member of the industry and an ace parliamentarian. His contribution in furthering the cause of the Indian industry and the tourism sector was immense. He was highly admired. We will miss him.”

Suri’s awards include the Rashtriya Samman Patra, for being among the highest tax payers in the country in 1995-96 and 1999-2000; the Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award in recognition of his socio-economic achievements in India; The Order of Merit from the Indian Council of Management Executives for service rendered to the public and The Hind Rattan Award for his services to the Indian public.

editor@expressindia.com